Katie Madonna Lee street scouted both of the young actresses who played Julie Ann Mabry. Oliva Adams was discovered at Walgreens on Ironwood and Mishawaka and Gemma Lee at South Bend Chocolate Company. Oddly, both actresses grew up next door to each other but had long since moved away from one another.
It was actually Katie Madonna Lee's mother, Bernadette Bauer who played the older Julie Ann Mabry.
After half of the prison scenes were shot, production had to re-shoot due to actress dropping out because her boyfriend said he "didn't think she should do it" anymore.
Towards the end of post production, stress had worn KML down so badly that her blood pressure was 200 over 80, and she suffered from a mini-stroke. She said that after living in Julie Ann Mabry's world for 11 months straight, she couldn't even look at a couple or listen to a love song without thinking about domestic violence.