Agent Dale Shelby spends the night in a hotel room with three films taken from Amanda's house. The films are Alien (1979), which was directed by Ridley Scott, who was a producer on this film; True Romance (1993) which was directed by Ridley's brother Tony Scott, who was an executive producer on this film; and Swingers (1996) which starred Vince Vaughn.
Joaquin Phoenix was at first apprehensive about taking the role of Clay because he feared that the script's combination of humor and violence wouldn't translate well to the screen. However, Phoenix changed his mind after meeting an enthusiastic director David Dobkin and took the role.
Though never spoken in the film, the name of the town where it's set is Mercer, Montana.
While the film was set in Montana, the production was forced to be shot in Utah and Lancaster, California for budgetary reasons.
This is the first film to use the 1998 Scott Free bird logo.