Additional flashback scenes were filmed featuring Alfred Molina as Nick's father Christos (played by Steve Plytas in the 1980s scenes). Although Molina was credited as "Young Christos" in press materials, and his scenes were shown in publicity photos, his role was almost completely cut from the final version, and his name does not appear in the credits. Molina's only remaining footage in the released film is a single shot of Christos taking a photograph of Eleni, Nikola and family, with his face partially obscured by his camera.
Based on a true story, over 28,000 Greek children were forcibly taken from their parents and sent to various Communist countries, before the end of the Greek Civil War in 1949. The Greek Civil War was the first battle of the war against Communism and it was an important victory for the Allied Forces.
The Greek mountain town of Lia seen in the movie was actually a set construction built on a shooting location in Spain. Show-business trade-paper 'Variety' reported in its review that "the impoverished Greek village" was "suitably recreated in Spain".
Some movie posters for the film featured a long preamble that read: "Her only crime was helping her son escape to America. Her punishment was death. Years later a New York Times reporter is determined to uncover the story of this heroic woman, and find the man who murdered her. Nicholas Gage is the Reporter. He is her son."
The nick-name of Nicholas Gage (John Malkovich) was "Nick" whilst his full birth name was Nicola Gatzoyiannis.