To help create the gothic atmosphere present in this movie, many shots were lit exclusively by firelight or candlelight.
The location of Jane Eyre's cottage was so isolated that there was no mobile phone reception. A member of the crew had to be stationed in a nearby phone booth with a walkie talkie in case the crew needed anything. He didn't complain, however, as the local residents brought him tea and biscuits throughout the day.
While the majority of the book takes place in the 1830s, director Cary Joji Fukunaga changed the timeline so that most of this movie took place about a decade later, because he felt that mid-1830s fashions were very over-the-top and unflattering, and wanted to dress Mrs. Reed (Sally Hawkins) in those styles rather than Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska).
Romy Settbon Moore (Adèle Varens) was cast in part because she speaks fluent French. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga held auditions at a local bilingual school to find a girl who could convincingly play a French child but who could also understand his direction.
Director Cary Joji Fukunaga chose not to film any footage of Thornfield Hall burning down because he wanted this movie to feel like the novel, which is entirely first-person from Jane's perspective. In the book, Jane is not present for the fire, and Fukunaga didn't feel there was a way to include it organically in the movie.