Originally Renée Soutendijk was going to play Martje, but during the writing of the last versions of the script director Martin Koolhoven understood he had made a mistake and decided to cast Monic Hendrickx in the leading part. Monic won the Golden Calf (the most prestigious Dutch movie award) for her part as Martje.
The end credits of Het Zuiden included "Thanks to Dogme 95". Director Martin Koolhoven originally planned to shoot it as a Dogme film, and it was co-produced by Lars von Trier's Zentropa. Finally, the director decided he did not want to be so severely constrained as by Dogme principles.