Hilary Swank won the lead role of Brandon/Teena after hundreds of other actresses had been considered and rejected over the course of three years. She told director Kimberly Peirce that, like her character, she was also 21 and came from Lincoln, Nebraska. But she was fibbing, and when Pierce later confronted her with the lies, she responded, "But that's what Brandon would do."
When Lana is talking to Candace and Kate about the first time she had sex with Brandon, she throws herself down on her bed, and puts her hands on her face. Her right hand is in front of her left hand, but in the next shot, they have swapped, and her left is in front of her right.