[2] He was given a budget of approximately NOK 14 million and Jacobsen intended for the film's main message to center around "the terror of good", which he described as "a political correctness where people increasingly have to suppress aspects of themselves to be accepted.

"[3] Pia Tjelta was confirmed as one of the film's stars and would be portraying a mail order bride.

It performed poorly at the box office, with NRK reporting that only 15,000 people had purchased tickets as of September of that year.

[5] Jacobsen responded to the poor reception for 5 Lies, stating that "VG and Dagbladet tried to murder the child at the moment of birth" and calling the Norwegian audience "idiots".

[8][9] Verdens Gang reviewed the film, writing that it was "extremely ambitious" but also "ran aground".