The movie is supposed to occur in Washington, DC, but was actually filmed in Spokane, WA.
The film was intended to be released in domestic theaters in 2005 by MGM, but was delayed due to the takeover of the company by Sony. The film was finally released direct-to-DVD in 2006 for the domestic market and within several international markets.
The director had the homeless character Shaky wear perfectly clean clothes, including a brand new black T-shirt with a bunch of large bright white text that, due to wrinkles, was difficult to read. Because of this T-shirt, many viewers ignored the dialogue because they were trying to make out the text. What the text says is, "I've had a difficult past few wives."
The first lady's triptych painting was done by arranging the blank canvases and using a projector to project the original sketch, which would then be traced before painting.
The song that Crawford hums when the lights go out is "December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.