Tom Berenger admitted in an interview that he had nightmares after he was finished shooting all of his scenes as Gary.
In order to get artistic control and creative freedom, director Richard Brooks took the minimum scale director's fee plus a percentage for directing the picture.
For the sex scenes, Richard Brooks closed the set to all but essential crew. Diane Keaton still had difficulty the first time she was required to appear naked. When she heard Richard playing a Bach record during lunch, she asked if he could play the record during her scene. "Diane is so shy," he said later. "She could only do a nude scene if she was playing to the music. She couldn't play to a man. I think Bach would have been pleased.''
Actress Diane Keaton's contract explicitly prohibited the manufacture of any production photograph stills from any "sexually suggestive" frames from the film's print.
This movie was filmed and released the same year as Diane Keaton's Oscar-winning role in Annie Hall (1977). Although she was not an Oscar contender for Goodbar, many people in the industry believe the acting range Keaton displayed by making two such diametrically different films in a single year did play a part in Academy members giving her their 1977 Best Actress award.