Charlotte Gainsbourg stated in an interview with the Washington Post that Lars von Trier personally asked her to record a version of the song "Hey Joe" for the end credits after he was unable to secure the rights to Jimi Hendrix's version, something she immediately accepted.
Whether it is coincidental or a sly touch on Lars von Trier's part, the three works Seligman references as his literary encounter with the erotic are the three films that make up Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life": The Decameron (1971), The Canterbury Tales (1972) and Arabian Nights (1974). The "Trilogy of Life" was noteworthy for its attention to sexuality.
Lars von Trier pays homage to Andrei Tarkovsky: chapter 7 - The Mirror (Mirror (1975)), iconograph in the room (Andrei Rublev (1966)), and Joe's levitation (a trademark of Tarkovsky).
Both Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stellan Skarsgard view Joe and Seligman as the two halves of Lars von Trier.