Joan Didion wanted Sam Peckinpah to direct but he was never quite sure why she would select him, given his success as a director of Western-themed films, and declined.
Play It As It Lays is Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins' second film together. Their first being Pretty Poison (68) a psychological thriller.
A box-office flop, this film was never given a cinema release in Britain.
Dominick Dunne wanted Tuesday Weld, who was a neighbor of his in Malibu, for the part of Maria. Frank Perry had been in favor of Bonnie Bedelia saying 'Maria should have been anorexic and Tuesday was plenty beefy.' Other actresses considered: Elizabeth Ashley and Lauren Hutton.
Sam Peckinpah was to have worked with Joan Didion on this screen adaptation of her novel but this plan did not materialize.