The lines read at the beginning by Jeff Goldblum are a translation from the nineteenth century German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine's "In der Fremde" (In Exile) Heine was an exile, spending his last years in Paris.
Moni Moshonov was cast as Arthur, but had to drop due to a schedule conflict and was replaced by comedian-actor Idan Alterman.
Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe also appear in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).