Terence Winter was very unhappy with the movie, claiming his screenplay is not the one that ended up on screen.
On the 8 November 2005 edition of Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993), 50 Cent said that this film is "about 75% accurate".
50 Cent hired an acting coach but Jim Sheridan had the woman removed from the set. Sheridan told 50 "If this fails, it won't be because you can't act. It's because I didn't direct you right."
Bono introduced Jim Sheridan to 50 Cent because Sheridan expressed a desire to meet and work with 50.