In a Howard Stern interview, James Franco described some of the movie's filming locations as "real locations where there were real gangsters around and some real bad stuff going on." Franco specified that Vanessa Hudgens was very scared while shooting the scene at the pool hall, contrary to the behavior of her character, Candy.
Harmony Korine stated that he wanted to make the film appear as a mixture of a Britney Spears music video and a Gaspar Noé film.
Emma Roberts was originally cast but the film required her character to indulge in a three-way sex scene, causing her to drop out of the film due to unspecified "creative differences." She was replaced by Ashley Benson.
Vanessa Hudgens said her sex scene was so nerve-wracking that she told her agent she never wanted to ever do it again.
Selena Gomez didn't know how to smoke and had never done it before. So they had to teach her for the movie.
Russell Stuart: James Franco's inspiration for Alien, Florida rapper Dangeruss, appears on the stage during Franco's first scene in the film. He is the dreadlocked performer to the left of Franco.