In a 2023 interview with Screen Rant, M. Night Shyamalan explained how he came to cast Dave Bautista: "I thought, 'This is an impossible role. A GIANT who can emote and do 30 pages of monologues. This doesn't exist, this person doesn't exist!' And then I was like, 'Wait a minute, what about that guy in Blade Runner 2049 (2017)?' I don't know much about wrestling, so it wasn't like I had that in my head, and probably if I did I might've been blinded to the fact that this person was an amazing actor... They said his name was Dave Bautista and so I reached out, and then Dave reached out, and then we met. And when I spoke to him, I found a human being who was ready to start over again, take away all the success that he had and unlearn it and then start over... He just wanted to be proud of himself and I was like, 'I'm down, brother. Let's do it the right way from beginning to end' and he's like, 'I don't know if I can do this' and I go, 'But I do'."
At the premiere, in some cinemas, at the entrance, the spectators were asked to give up something they cared for the entire duration of the film, in exchange for a gift at the end. If you chose yes, then your smartphone was bagged and sealed. By handing over the still sealed envelope at the exit, you received a nice prize. The initiative read "MAKE YOUR CHOICE. You would give up one of the things you care about most for the duration of the film. Prove it, your sacrifice could be rewarded"
Shyamalan shot the film with lenses from the 1990s to give it an "old-school thriller" look.
Director M. Night Shyamalan has a cameo in an air fryer infomercial that briefly appears on the TV before the first news report.