After seeing the photorealism of the computer generated actors in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), the producers started to lean toward the idea of having Simone actually be a computer generated actress. However, after heavy opposition from the Screen Actor's Guild, claiming in so many words that replacement of actors in ALL movies would be the next logical step, the idea was scrapped.
In the beginning of the movie, Viktor Taransky is removing all the red candies from a bowl of assorted colored candies. He subsequently has a heated conversation with Nicola Anders. As a demanding actress her contract specifies that she has the largest trailer on the set, she must always be provided with these candies sans the red ones. This is a reference to a 1982 contract rider for the rock group Van Halen, who required that they be provided with specific foods and drinks. This included a bowl of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed (according to David Lee Roth during a Van Halen concert, this was a test to make sure the lawyers were paying attention to their other more legit and logical demands). The removal of the candies wasn't itself important, but was instead a test by the band to see if the contract had been thoroughly read and executed exactly as instructed. This was to ensure the safety of the band, crew and fans at the concert.
Early in the movie Taransky's daughter Lainey is reading about the legend of Pygmalion on the Internet, a Greek king who created a beautiful statue of a woman whom he named Galatea. He fell in love with the statue and asked the gods to make Galatea real, which they did
In the original theatrical release, Simone was credited "as herself". In subsequent versions of the film, this was changed to "and introducing Rachel Roberts as Simone."
In order to keep her role in the film a secret, Rachel Roberts worked on the movie under the pseudonym Anna Green (short for anthropomorphic green screen), and is referred to by this name on one of the behind-the-scenes documentaries on the DVD release. Live footage of Rachel Roberts was computer enhanced in order to create the synthetic look of Simone. During some computer screen scenes, a detailed, computer animated version of the actress was used.