Curtis Hanson was a longtime fan of Bob Dylan, and personally approached the singer about writing a song for his movie adaptation. Dylan complied with "Things Have Changed", which went on to win him an Academy Award.
The list of famous suicides is taken name-for-name from a list in Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon II," including the notorious Alan Ladd reference.
Filmed in sequence.
In the theatrical version James Leer (Tobey Maguire) included Alan Ladd's death in his list of celebrity suicides. After complaints from Ladd's family, Paramount removed the offending line in all future releases of the film, including home video. Because of this, VHS and DVD releases carry a disclaimer, shown before the feature, warning that the film has been edited for content.
The combination to the locked closet with the Monroe jacket is 5641. Fifty-six games is the record number of consecutive games that Joe Dimaggio recorded a hit, and forty-one is the year in which he accomplished it.