Bill Murray once said of this movie in an interview: "Everyone will enjoy this movie. But New Yorkers will enjoy it especially because they know how bad their city really is." In another later August 2010 interview with Dan Fierman of GQ Magazine, Murray said: "It's great. It's a great piece of writing. And how about the cast? You couldn't get that cast together for all the tea in China right now. I mean, Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub...".
When original director Jonathan Demme became unavailable, writer Howard Franklin and producer Bill Murray couldn't agree on who would be a good director for the project. So they decided to do the job themselves.
The watch that the bank employee tries to give Grimm (Bill Murray) is "an Audemars Piguet, Moon Phase, 18-karat gold, alligator band" watch. He states the value is $12,000, but appreciates daily. It may be a coincidence, but in Bill Murray's Fantômes en fête (1988), he is wearing the same watch, which can be seen when he checks the time in the restaurant (before the waiter lights on fire), expecting to see his first foretold ghost.
According to show-business trade paper Variety, co-directors Howard Franklin and Bill Murray "became too attached to the project [during development] to bring anyone else in [to direct it]".