Red Road is the first of three films made at the behest of The Advance Party, a Danish project inspired by Lars von Trier, who challenged Arnold and two other new directors to create films with the same group of characters.
The cunnilingus scene between Tony Curran and Kate Dickie is so convincing that many critics believed it to be real, such as Stephen Dalton in his article "Sealed With A Glasgow Kiss". The simulation was achieved simply, through placing half a pear between Dickie's legs, which Curran licked and sucked, and angling the camera so as to not reveal the machinations of the mimicry.
Andrea Arnold conducted the casting with Morag McKinnon and Mikkel Nørgaard as all the actors would be reused in their films.
Martin Compston and Paul Higgins both starred in "Line Of Duty"