Mark Wahlberg stayed in Bobby Shatford's room above the Crow's Nest bar, and even checked ID's at the door one night.
In the film's beginning, the Andrea Gail is shown offloading an unimpressive catch, and Billy Tyne is depicted as having "lost his touch." In reality, Tyne and his crew returned from that trip with an abundant catch. Likewise, the relationship between Tyne and Linda Greenlaw was fictitious. Tyne and Greenlaw were barely acquainted in real life.
Three days of exterior shots were filmed on the edge of Hurricane Floyd for the early portions of the storm.
Casting Mark Wahlberg was easy: he comes from Boston and had George Clooney's recommendation. According to Wolfgang Petersen, "It was a handshake and he got the job."
After the traumatic shooting of Abyss (1989), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio swore she would never do another film involving water. Fortunately all of her scenes were land-based, so Wolfgang Petersen was able to persuade her to come onboard.