In a 2011 interview with the American Film Institute, Sir Gary Oldman was asked to name his favorite role. He chose two: Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1991) and Drexl Spivey in this movie.
Sir Gary Oldman met with Tony Scott about the project, and told him he hadn't had a chance to read the script he'd been sent, then asked Scott what his part would be like. Scott told him "You're playing a white guy who thinks he's black, and you're a killer pimp." Oldman laughed and immediately accepted the role.
Brad Pitt found the hat he is wearing in the kitchen sequence on the boardwalk in Venice, California. He took it, washed it, and wore it for the film.
Director Tony Scott gave Patricia Arquette the purple Cadillac as a gift after shooting wrapped, as the Ford Futura she was driving at the time kept on breaking down (Patricia Arquette recounts this in the 2002 DVD commentary).