Trivia

Matthias Schoenaerts spent two months boxing, doing MMA training on a daily basis and also doing weightlifting and eating junk food like burgers, ice-cream and pizza in order to gain weight and a little belly, because Jacques Audiard wanted Ali to look strong but not fit, a bit unhealthy because the character is poor, so he doesn't have the means to feed himself properly.

Marion Cotillard stated that she hates filming sex scenes, which for her are usually the worst part of being an actress, but for the first time she enjoyed her sex scenes in a movie with Rust and Bone. She said: "I am shaking; I feel very bad and I want to cry most of the time because I hate it so much, but here it was totally different. I was so involved with my character that I was happy she would enjoy something like that. It's a movie about love, about flesh, about rust and bone and heart and sex, so without the sex scenes the movie would have missed something".

The title "Rust and Bone" refers to the taste of blood in the mouth when, upon a blow to the face, the lips are crushed against the teeth.

After starring together in "Rust and Bone", Marion Cotillard recommended Matthias Schoenaerts for her boyfriend Guillaume Canet's directorial-debut in Hollywood: Blood Ties (2013). Canet has said that he chose Schoenaerts after hearing Cotillard praising his acting several times.

Armand Verdure was chosen to play Sam after the casting director saw him in the streets of a French ghetto. The casting director started testing him out and told Jacques Audiard: "I know what you're thinking, but don't take him because it's going to be hell. The kid is a little nuts." and Audiard said: "He's the one" and gave the part to him. Then, Matthias Schoenaerts met the boy and was completely attached to him, and they spent months together as the boy adapted to the notion of being on a set and doing scenes more than once.