The movie's first-time screenwriter Jason Lew and (co-producer) Bryce Dallas Howard attended New York University together and it was there that Lew first wrote the story as a play. Howard, who had acted in plays with Lew, got a peek at the story and encouraged him to write it as a screenplay.
Schuyler Fisk, who appears in this film, is the daughter of Sissy Spacek. Both this film and _Badlands_(1973), which Spacek appeared in, feature the music piece 'Gassenhauer' by Carl Orff.