The line Bucky Terranova (Joe Mantegna) used when he first meets Tally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) - "Your voice is full of money" - was from F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, "The Great Gatsby". In The Great Gatsby (1974), Robert Redford played the title role.
The original script was based on the life of famed young newscaster Jessica Savitch, who was killed as a passenger in an automobile accident.
Michelle Pfeiffer turned down the chance to star in a (never produced) adventure movie about female pirates - "Mistress of the Sea" - in order to star in this movie. At the time, Pfeiffer had just given birth to her son and did not want to travel overseas.
The photo of Tally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) as Miss Sierra Logger that she shows Warren Justice (Robert Redford) at the airport is an actual photo of Pfeiffer from her beauty pageant days. She took part in and won Miss Orange County 1978.
On the DVD extras Pfeiffer said she wore so many wigs and hairstyles for this movie that she had a trailer with just her wigs in it.