Reportedly, Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett didn't get on during production and were distant with each other while promoting the film. Hartnett later said in an interview that they were on better terms by the time filming finished, but he recalled occasions when they would simply sit in the car instead of shooting a scene and neither of them would speak for about an hour.
Harrison Ford acknowledged in an interview that it was the worst film he had ever made in his career and that he only took the role for the money.
Gavilan is modelled on Robert Souza, who served as a homicide detective in the LAPD's Hollywood Division and worked as an estate agent during the final ten years of his time on the force. The episode in which a handcuffed offender manages to grab a patrol officer's firearm from his belt and opens fire in a car park actually occurred while Souza was serving.
In the DVD commentary it is noted that the parts played by Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett in the film are almost the reverse of their real‑life abilities. Gavilan (Ford) is shown as a good shot and almost a stunt driver, whereas Calden is a poor shot and driver. In reality, Ford dislikes guns and is, at best, a poor marksman, while Hartnett is a very capable marksman, having undergone actor basic training twice for two other films (Pearl Harbor (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001)). Hartnett does not enjoy driving, whereas Ford is, according to Ron Shelton, '...a maniac behind the steering wheel'.
Ron Shelton said he greatly enjoyed working with Master P, Kurupt and André 3000, and left the film convinced that rappers often make natural actors.
The subplot in which Gavilan attempts to sell Jerry Duran's house to Julius Armas is inspired by Robert Souza's real-life endeavour to sell Robert Evans's house to Dodi Fayed, who at the time was involved in the music industry and for whom Souza worked as a bodyguard.
Lolita Davidovich, who portrays madam Cleo Ricard, the proprietor of an escort agency, is married in real life to director Ron Shelton.
At one stage, this film, S.W.A.T. (2003), and The Italian Job (2003) were all shooting on the streets of downtown Los Angeles simultaneously.
The parts of Sgt. Joe Gavilan and Det. K.C. Calden were initially earmarked for John Travolta and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, respectively.
The ringtone most frequently heard on Joe Gavilan's mobile phone is the opening riff of 'My Girl', whereas K.C. Calden's mobile plays 'Funkytown'.
Ron Shelton said that, drawing on the source material he had worked with, the moment where K.C. Calden leaves a screenplay at Jerry Duran's house was loosely inspired by a real incident. A police officer who was an aspiring screenwriter had been sent to a house to investigate a crime. When he discovered the homeowner was a film producer, the officer ran to his car, fetched a screenplay he had been developing and handed it to the producer.
The film was initially planned as a drama until Suge Knight raised objections with the producers; it was subsequently reworked into a comedy.
Director Ron Shelton first met co-writer Robert Souza while working on Dark Blue (2002). A former police officer, Souza served as an adviser. Shelton was sufficiently impressed that he asked Souza to help co-write his subsequent film.
Ron Shelton has said that two scenes were cut from the film: an early sequence in which Ruby breaks up with her former boyfriend, Bennie Macko — Shelton felt it revealed too much too soon and would have ruined Gavilan's stunned look when he learns that Macko once dated Ruby; and a more explicit love scene between Gavilan and Ruby (a side-profile shot of her breast appears to have been removed) in order to obtain a PG-13 rating.
The H20Klick are the 504 Boyz (Choppa, Krazy, Magic, & T-Bo), a Southern hip-hop group that included Master P.
Mt. Olympus, the address of Joe Gavilan's 'monstrosity' that he is desperate to sell, is in fact a real street in the Los Angeles area.
During the chase sequence, as Gavilan (Harrison Ford) climbs into the taxi, you can just make out an advert on the taxi's roof for Ruby's (Lena Olin) radio programme.
According to Ron Shelton, the hip-hop club also doubled as the operational base in Ocean's Eleven (2001).
When Gavilan returns home, the single-malt whisky he has is Lagavullin from Islay, off Scotland's west coast.
The play "A Streetcar Named Desire" that appears at the film's end is interrupted during Act I, Scene 3. It’s the play’s best-known scene, in which Stanley Kowalski calls out for his girl Stella, filled with anger and pain.
Gavilan says he hasn't set foot in his locker for ten years. Ten years earlier, the film The Fugitive (1993) was released, featuring Harrison Ford in the leading role. He portrayed Dr Richard Kimble, a fugitive who was falsely accused of murdering his wife and went on the run from the police to clear his name.
Ron Shelton: [several things take place at once] Joe Gavilan is speaking with Cleo Ricard while K.C. is in discussion with a talent agency, and a suspect snatches a police officer's firearm and opens fire with it.
This film was the last to feature the work of the renowned title-sequence designer Wayne Fitzgerald.
The film appears to draw a parallel between the classic Motown phenomenon and the recent vigour of rap and hip-hop, which helps explain the differences between its main characters. Evidence for this includes a cast that features figures from both worlds — for example, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Andre 3000 and Kurupt; the ringtone for Ford's character is "My Girl", while Josh Hartnett's is "Funkytown"; and the words Gladys Knight says to Ford when talking about her character's son.
Joe Gavillan's ringtone is 'My Girl' by The Temptations. The original recording is heard at the end of the film and during the end credits.
Lolita Davidovich and Martin Landau also featured in the 1994 film Intersection alongside Richard Gere and Sharon Stone.
Three years after this film, Josh Hartnett once again portrayed a Los Angeles police officer in "The Black Dahlia", although that film was set in 1946–1947.
