The movie was filmed in the writer's hometown and the factory is his parents' actual factory.
Several members of the writer's family appears in the film. His brother plays one of the Drug Enforcement Agents. His father is the neighbor in the trampoline scene. His mother appears briefly in the scene when Jim nearly hits a tree. Finally, Jim's nieces Sarah and Rachel are the writer's actual nieces.
This movie marks Casey Affleck's first leading role. Director Steve Buscemi said he knew Affleck would be able to carry the movie after watching his performance in "Gerry".
The shoot took 16 days.
When the original studio financing the film backed off and InDigEnt, a New York-based, Mini-DV movie company, came on board, the budget was reduced from $3 million to $500,000. The shoot also became much shorter. It was 30 days originally.