We are so accustomed to believe that crime and violence are characteristic of male characters only that the idea of seeing the ultimate devil personified in a woman, and a mother, quite amused me during the writing process. For the part of Julian’s mother I always had Kristin in mind. I met her in Paris and started thinking about how interesting it would be to make her character a strange mix between Lady Macbeth and Donatella Versace. And of course, Kristin was incredibly happy to play the character of a badass, authoritarian and diabolic mother. - Nicolas Winding Refn