Thanks to Eastwood's no frills, fast-paced shooting style and editing skills, this movie was in theaters a mere four months after completing photography.
Jeff Daniels claimed that he first met Clint Eastwood on a golf course around the time Dumb and Dumber (1994) was released, and he was pleasantly surprised when Eastwood told him he enjoyed the movie.
Clint Eastwood bought the movie rights to Michael Connelly's "Blood Work" novel when it was in book (galley) form.
The type of rare blood type was AB with a CMV negative. CMV stands for cytomegalovirus, a generally harmless virus. Most people contract CMV sometime during of their lifetime. AB with CMV negative blood is used for transfusions for people with weakened immune systems such as babies, burn victims, and people having organ transplants. A blood donor who is CMV negative is someone that has never been exposed to the cytomegalovirus and as such is highly valuable for such people.
The project was attractive to Clint Eastwood as it took a new spin on his cop character persona which had been developed in movies since the 1970s. Due to his older mature age, the character has heart problems. This was an acting challenge for Eastwood, as he has said, because it gave more obstacles to what he would do as a screen detective, compared to when he was in his thirties or forties.
Dina Eastwood: Clint Eastwood's ex-wife Dina (a.k.a. Dina Ruiz) has a cameo as one of the television reporters on-scene asking questions. Before marrying Clint, she was a television reporter in Salinas, California.