Director Oskar Roehler originally offered Moritz Bleibtreu the role of Bruno, but he turned it down because he thought the role of a sex-addicted loser looked too much like his role in Roehler's previous film Agnes and His Brothers (2004). Roehler gave Bleibtreu the role of Bruno's half-brother Michael instead, casting Christian Ulmen in the role of Bruno. Late into the rehearsals, four weeks before shooting, Bleibtreu and Roehler decided that Bruno would actually be a better fit for Bleibtreu and so Bleibtreu and Ulmen switched roles.