The United States of Leland

Pearl Madison

Leland P. Fitzgerald

Allen Harris

Becky Pollard

Marybeth Fitzgerald

Albert T. Fitzgerald

Julie Pollard

Harry Pollard

Karen Pollard

Ayesha

Mrs. Calderon

Charlie

Bengel

Guillermo

Ryan Pollard

Elden

Dave

Kevin

Miranda

TV Reporter

Ben

Sheriff Donaldson

Cop One

Security Guard

Doris (as Kathleen Dunn)

News Anchor

Detention Specialist

Main Entrance Guard

Myra

Airplane Woman

6-Year-Old Leland

Bethany

Court Officer

Judge

Hotel Waitress

Mechanic

12-Year-Old Leland

Cemetery Reporter

Mechanic #2

First Officer

Second Officer

Doctor (as Kevin Kelly)

Grocery Guy

Student (as Eric Ty Hodges)

Neighbor (uncredited)

Alex (uncredited)

Creepy Old Man (uncredited)

Hotel Clerk (uncredited)

A recurring element of the film is the fact that Leland doesn't have any contact with his father, absent ever since his childhood. Ryan Gosling never shares any scenes with Kevin Spacey and in the courtroom sequence, even though both characters are present, they're never in the same frame.

In this movie, set in Arizona, all the cars shown have front and back license plates. However, in Arizona you are only issued two license plates if you have a personalized plate which none of the cars in the movie had.

In the scene where Becky and Leland are walking at around 2 in the morning, in the background you can see it begin to rain, but both Leland's and Becky's clothes remain perfectly dry.

When Leland is watching the basketball game with the other inmate, the sun is shining through the window, however, the shadows outside are cast in wrong direction.

Leland: And that's when I figured out that tears couldn't make somebody who was dead alive again. There's another thing to learn about tears, they can't make somebody who doesn't love you any more love you again. It's the same with prayers. I wonder how much of their lives people waste crying and praying to God. If you ask me, the devil makes more sense than God does. I can at least see why people would want him around. It's good to have somebody to blame for the bad stuff they do. Maybe God's there because people get scared of all the bad stuff they do. They figure that God and the Devil are always playing this game of tug-of-war game with them. And they never know which side they're gonna wind up on. I guess that tug-of-war idea explains how sometimes, even when people try to do something good, it still turns out bad.

Becky Pollard: I don't want to hurt you.

TV Reporter: Why did you do it, Leland?