Because many members of the cast were not members of the Screen Actor's Guild, Chalo González had to hand in his SAG card before he could play the role of Tio Tomas.
The film was shot in the same neighborhood that Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer (the film's writers and directors) live in, and the community turned up to help out by loaning their houses, providing technical advice, supplying clothing and acting.
Because of time constraints, the producers had still not found an actor to play James just before shooting was set to start, so they asked the casting director, Jason L. Wood, to play the part, because they liked how he had read the part as the other side of dialogue during actors' auditions. Wood was hesitant to take an acting part because he was worried that it might be a conflict of interest with his career as a casting agent, but he finally relented when the producers assured him he wouldn't have to cry in the film.
Veronica Sixtos's debut.