This film was originally a potential starring vehicle for Clint Eastwood, who directed Paul Haggis' screenplay for Million Dollar Baby (2004). Eastwood turned it down, despite liking the script very much, and recommended his friend Tommy Lee Jones for the role of Hank Deerfield.
Several of the actors who played soldiers, including Wes Chatham (Corporal Steve Penning), Jake McLaughlin (Specialist Gordon Bonner), and Sean Huze (Captain Jim Osher), had actually served in the Iraq War themselves.
Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Barry Corbin, Josh Meyer and Kathy Lamkin also starred in No Country for Old Men (2007) the same year, with nearly 60 other crew members also being shared. The two movies both have Albuquerque, New Mexico as a shooting location and Roger Deakins as director of photography.