Trivia for
An American Crime (2007)

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• Based on a true story that happened in Indiana in 1965.
  
  
• The film is based largely on actual court transcripts from the case.
  
  
• Ellen Page was the only choice to play Sylvia Likens.
  
  

• Ellen Page literally starved herself for her role as Sylvia. When director Tommy O'Haver noticed she was looking thinner, he asked her if she was eating and she replied "No, because Sylvia wasn't being fed."
  
  
• Catherine Keener originally turned down the role of Gertrude Baniszewski, however after she couldn't get the story out of her head she met with director Tommy O'Haver and agreed to do the film.
  
  
• Most of the cast were completely unaware of the real Likens murder until after they read the script.
  
  
• Released the same year as The Girl Next Door (2007), which was based on a novel inspired by the Sylvia Likens murder.
  
  
• The film was shot in chronological order to give the actors the experience of what Sylvia really went through.
  
  

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