At one point, while the characters in the film are examining a store-front display of World War II heroes, a photograph of several men in uniform is shown. This photo is of actual soldiers who fought in World War II, all of whom made their home at the location of the film shoot, Ferndale, California.
The voices of the unseen studio executives during the first screenwriting scene (and the one later in the film) are all famous directors, including Garry Marshall, Paul Mazursky, Sydney Pollack, Rob Reiner, and Carl Reiner. All of these directors are also known their occasional acting forays.
Several names in the movie are connected to real-life persons involved in Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch hunt" investigations. The town of Lawson is named for screenwriter John Howard Lawson who stood up to HUAC and ended the Red Scare. Another writer, Lester Cole, gives his surname to the mayor. Luke Trimble is named for blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Appleton is named for Senator McCarthy's Wisconsin home town.
Brian Libby, who plays studio guard Hal, has appeared in all of director Frank Darabont's movies. Darabont considers Libby to be a lucky charm of sorts and casts him whenever possible.
Matt Damon: The first choice for the lead role (turned down to star in The Bourne Identity (2002)), provides the voice of Albert Lucas "Luke" Trimble's farewell letter. Many of his lines were written in 1861 by Major Sullivan Ballou, 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, to his wife in Smithfield, a week before he was killed at the First Bull Run Battle.
Frank Darabont: [old movie clips] Clips from The Big Parade (1925), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) are shown.
Frank Darabont: [Heywood Floyd] Heywood and Floyd are the names of two studio executives. Heywood Floyd is a space explorer in books and movies written by Arthur C. Clarke, including 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984). The studio guard named Hal, played by Brian Libby, is a possible reference to the sentient computer from the same Clarke stories. Darabont also directed The Shawshank Redemption (1994) where Libby plays a character named Floyd, and there was another character named Heywood played by William Sadler.