The picture was a passion project for producer and director Sean Penn and Jack Nicholson. Unfortunately, the screenplay was turned down by every major studio in Hollywood. Producer Elie Samaha, and his studio Franchise Pictures, who specialized in picking up screenplays in turnaround, quickly pounced on the material and signed up Penn and Nicholson for a reduced fee. The pair agreed, as long as Penn could have complete creative and casting control.
The photograph of Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) as a younger man is the same one used in "Shining (1980)."
This is an adaptation of a Friedrich Dürrenmatt novel that was based on a story he wrote for the German movie "Es geschah am hellichten Tag (1958)," which had a slightly different, less bleak ending. In that movie, the murderer was played by Gert Fröbe, who played Auric Goldfinger in "Goldfinger (1964)."