Robert De Niro's face would sometimes ache for days after tensing his jaw to speak in his post-stroke scenes.
Joel Schumacher conceived the idea for the film from personal experience. One of his close friends suffered a series of strokes and had to relearn how to speak through singing lessons.
After Robert De Niro read the screenplay, he had only one question for Joel Schumacher: "When do we start shooting?"
Rusty's line, "It costs a lot to look this cheap", is also a personal quote attributed to Dolly Parton.
Philip Seymour Hoffman's line, "I'm more man than you'll ever be, and more woman than you'll ever get", was first uttered by Antonio Fargas as "Lindy" in Car Wash (1976). Fargas's character also dressed in drag, and the movie was written by Joel Schumaker early in his career.