Author Andre Dubus III received more than one hundred offers from movie studios who wanted to make his book into a movie.
Sir Ben Kingsley was given a copy of the novel "House of Sand and Fog" by author Andre Dubus III's wife, before he was ever approached to star in the movie.
During a press tour for this movie that featured co-writer and director Vadim Perelman and several of the actors and actresses (including Jennifer Connelly and Sir Ben Kingsley) a reporter asked if the story was a metaphor for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The actors and actresses were completely surprised, and Connelly asked Perelman if that was the case. He told the reporter that it was an interesting interpretation, but he hadn't had that in mind when he was planning the movie, either in general development, or when he made Kingsley's character into a former Iranian officer in exile.
In the scenes on the rooftop porch, telephone poles and wires are prominently visible. These were added by the production crew, to make the neighborhood where filming occurred seem more middle-class.
Numerous location shots in Northern California establish the action as occurring in the San Francisco Bay Area. The actual house was over four hundred miles away, in Malibu.
Andre Dubus III: As Officer Myers, the officer assisting Lieutenant Alvarez when Colonel Behrani reports Officer Burdon's misconduct. Andre Dubus III is the author of the novel on which this movie was based.