The first draft of the script was written by Kevin Williamson in August 2000 and followed the exploits of a New York City serial killer who discovers that his lethal tendencies are due to his lycanthrope nature. Both screenwriters Sean Hood and Tony Gayton did rewrites of Williamson's original script during the development process.
After filming Vampire in Brooklyn, Wes Craven was attached to direct a werewolf film called Bad Moon Rising, but its funding was cut by Miramax just 10 days before filming began. Wes was ultimately pressured into signing on for Cursed, with press releases calling Craven and Williamson a “dynamic team” that would “reinvent the werewolf genre.”
Jesse Eisenberg was the first lead cast, with Kristina Anapau and Judy Greer cast in supporting roles. Christina Ricci was cast as Ellie, and Skeet Ulrich was cast as Vince Winston, a millionaire's son. The original story revolved around the 3 leads being brought together after a car accident in the Hollywood Hills and they’re attacked by a werewolf.
Scott Foley was cast as Ellie’s boyfriend Kyle, and Omar Epps was cast as the chief of animal control, Ben. Other cast members included James Brolin as Vince’s father, Milo Ventimiglia, Shannon Elizabeth, Illeana Douglas, Robert Forster, Heather Langenkamp and John C. McGinley. Scott Baio and Corey Feldman were cast to play themselves, and Mandy Moore was cast to be the opening kill in a parking garage.
With a budget of $35 million, the film shot for 54 days, and with only 6 days left to shoot the final scene in the wax museum, Dimension executives shut down the production as they did not like the ending or Rick Baker's creature effects.
They took the film back to the development phase and the decision was made to retool the script. They briefly considered making Jimmy and his father (John C. McGinley) werewolf hunters, but instead did more extensive rewrites; Ellie and Jimmy became siblings, Vince became the mysterious love interest (renamed Jake), and Kyle became her assistant. Scott Foley dropped out and was replaced with Michael Rosenbaum, and ultimately Skeet Ulrich was unsatisfied with his character change, causing him to leave and be replaced by Joshua Jackson. Mandy Moore was replaced with Mya, and the scene was moved from opening kill to mid movie. James Brolin, Robert Forster, Corey Feldman, Omar Epps, Heather Langenkamp and John C. McGinley were all written out from the new version of the script and could not reprise their roles. Rick Baker also dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and he was replaced by KNB EFX under Greg Nicotero.
After the extensive reshoots, and the addition of a new ending with a tragic scene of Jake begging Ellie to kill him to end his curse, it tested well with audiences. Dimension Films was still dissatisfied and ordered a new ending to be shot over 20 days to cast Jake as the main villain, and then a further 10 days of reshoots, at which point the cast and crew had shirts made that read “Cursed 4: Back for More.” The final budget was reported to be $90-100 million.
Editor Patrick Lussier was supposed to work on the film for only six weeks in summer 2003, but ended up working on it for 19 months. He also worked as a second unit director during the extensive reshoots. All of Rick Baker's designs were cut and most of KNB practical effects were replaced by CGI, including Judy Greer's transformation. Nevertheless, Rick Baker's name was displayed in the opening credits as the sole special makeup effects designer and creator.
In the fall of 2004, Dimension Films cut the film to a PG-13 rating instead of the planned R rating. Speaking to the New York Post, Craven commented, "The contract called for us to make an R-rated film. We did. It was a very difficult process. Then it was basically taken away from us and cut to PG-13 and ruined. It was two years of very difficult work and almost 100 days of shooting of various versions. Then at the very end, it was chopped up and the studio thought they could make more with a PG-13 movie, and trashed it ... I thought it was completely disrespectful, and it hurt them too, and it was like they shot themselves in the foot with a shotgun."Jenny's death scene in the elevator was originally much gorier, her dead body shown with her belly ripped apart, although not even the R-rated DVD version included this scene. A picture of her mutilated body was, however, shown in a Fangoria article published before the film's release covering the infamously troubled production. Craven and Lussier would move on to Red Eye, and during that film's post-production they would learn that Cursed would be edited down to accommodate a PG-13 rating. A nightmare sequence featuring Jake's throat getting ripped out by Ellie was redone without Craven, instead with Joel Soisson serving as director.
