After Zoë Bell was cast, Quentin Tarantino told Bell that he would hire a second stunt person to take Bell's place in the stunt scenes where her face wasn't visible. Bell insisted on performing every stunt herself, saying if someone else were cast in her role, and she was only performing the stunts, those were the stunts she would do. Tarantino honored her request.
The film was physically scratched to achieve its dirty look, rather than digitally scratch the film footage.
Tarantino came up with the idea of "Death Proof" when he was having a drunken hotel night with friend Sean Penn. Tarantino wanted to buy a Volvo because he "didn't want to die in some auto accident like the one in Tiempos violentos (1994)". In regards to the safety of the car, Sean Penn said, "Well, you could take any car and give it to a stunt team, and for $10,000 or $15,000, they can death-proof it for you." The "death proof" phrase had stuck to Tarantino after that.
In an interview, Quentin Tarantino said that the version of "Down in Mexico" heard in 'Death Proof' was likely the rarest recording in his entire collection. When he was working at a stag theater in his teens, he showed the record to the projectionist, another record collector, who immediately pointed out the words "Newly Recorded" on the record's label. Tarantino said this version soon became one of his favorite tracks of all time.
Quentin Tarantino: [Long Take] In the scene in the second half of the film where the four women are talking in a diner, the shot is held for eight minutes and seven seconds.
Quentin Tarantino: [Red Apple] One of the characters asks for 'Red Apple' cigarettes, a fictional brand which appears in most of Tarantino's movies.
Quentin Tarantino: [burger] Stuntman Mike asks Jungle Julia about having a billboard "near Big Kahuna Burger", a fictitious brand used by Tarantino in his movies. She then replies, "I got one there, too, Zatoichi". This is a reference to the famous Japanese blind samurai character who has appeared in several films and TV series - Tarantino is a big fan of the franchise.
Quentin Tarantino: [trunk shot] Tarantino's traditional shot looking up at the actors from the trunk of a car is replaced by one looking up from under the hood.
Quentin Tarantino: [bare feet] opening credits, Jungle Julia is constantly wearing no shoes and Abernathy has her bare feet hanging out of the car when she is asleep.