According to the original script, it was strongly implied that Esther enjoyed harming and torturing animals. A minor subplot with Esther killing and dismembering the Coleman family's pet hamster was written, but never filmed.
In earlier drafts of the script, Esther doesn't stab John to death. As he discovers the black light paintings in her room, she jumps out from beneath the pile of stuffed animals on her bed, stabs him in the eye with a pair of scissors, pushes him down the stairs (breaking his leg), and strangles him with a jump rope.
The hospital documents shown from the Saarne Institute when Dr. Varana is speaking with Kate on the phone are printed and written in English rather than Estonian, where the hospital is located.
Early in the film, at one point, the family returns home and it is snowing lightly. The windshield wipers stop and there is a brief overhead shot of Kate near the car with a lot of snow collected on the windshield. Not enough time had passed to allow that much snow to collect on the car.
(at around 1h 55 mins) In the credits the word "Russia" in Russian from Esther's papers is spelled wrong. The first letter should look like the Latin character "P," not "R" as was shown in the film. Cyrill P is Latin R. CPPP = S.R.R.R.
What is the poem inscribed on Jessica's memorial marker?
A
I never held you, but I feel you. You never spoke, but I hear you. I never knew you, but I love you.
Q
Why was Kate so upset about the white roses that Esther brought her?
A
They were the roses from Baby Jessica's dedication garden. Esther knew about the roses because Kate had shown them to her several days ago and told her, 'As long as these roses grow, she will too.'
Q
What is 'Orphan' about?
A
After suffering a miscarriage, Kate Coleman (Vera Farmiga) and her husband John (Peter Sarsgaard) decide to adopt a child to fill the void. Their choice is nine-year-old Russian orphan Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman). Esther charms John and their five-year-old deaf-mute daughter Maxine 'Max' (Aryana Engineer), but their son Daniel (Jimmy Bennett) is hostile to her,. Bad things seem to happen whenever Esther is around. Soon Kate begins to suspect that Esther isn't the angelic little girl she appears to be and begins to delve into her past.