The original Australian film is loosely based on the Melbourne crime scene in the 1980s, and the Pettingill crime family.
An American version of the 2010 Australian movie of the same name that starred Jacki Weaver, Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton and Ben Mendelsohn.
In Season 2 Episode 5, "Pope" (Shawn Hatosy) is seen watching the credits of an undisclosed film (at 37min 40secs). The credits of the "film" list the actors "In Order of Appearance". However, all of the "actors" listed by name in the credits are not actually actors but film and TV industry crew (such as 1st & 2nd AD's, editors, lighting techs etc. etc.), some of whom have worked directly on Animal Kingdom and/or other well known productions in film and TV, in what is a nice little piece of "meta" humour buried within this particular fictional universe.
John Wells directed both the first and last episodes of the show.
In Season 4 character Jeanine always wear rainbow stripes somewhere usually her top but also sneakers