The real caller, identified by police as 38-year-old prison guard David Stewart, was thought to have coerced managers of more than 70 fast food outlets in 31 U.S. states into strip-searching, humiliating, and sexually abusing customers and staff.
The only person who did prison time in the real case was Walter Nix Jr., boyfriend of restaurant manager Donna Summers. The caller, David Stewart, was found not guilty due to insufficient evidence. Summers was given probation.
In Oct 2007, a Kentucky jury ordered McDonald's to pay Louise Ogborn--the McDonald's employee in the 2004 incident this movie is based on--$5 million in punitive damages and $1.1 million in compensatory damages and expenses. After appeals, in Mar 2010, McDonald's and Ogborn settled out of court for $1.1 million total with no punitive damages.
The Hollywood Reporter noted the film's premiere at Sundance 2012 was met with a polarized reaction, eliciting both cheers and booing.
The phone conversations were performed on a working phone line installed in the set for the film. Pat Healy was on the phone downstairs of the set as the other cast members were upstairs. The phone line broke down during filming and Healy was brought up to deliver his lines off-camera.