The original story was a surreal bi-lingual drama, reminiscent of Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and Irreversible (2002) that focused on child abuse, violence towards women, mass incarceration and police violence committed under the color of authority. However, the movie was sold to Lionsgate Premiere, which thought it had been sold a Keanu Reeves cop thriller. During the editing process, Lionsgate Premiere changed the story's focus to center on Reeves' character, and changed the movie into a generic crime-thriller. Gee Malik Linton wrote and directed the film, but since Lionsgate Premiere and the producers edited the film without his approval, The Directors Guild of America (DGA) allowed him to take his name off the credits. He is still listed as writer, but his directing credit is listed as "Declan Dale".
The director's cut was edited by Roman Polanski's longtime editor, Hervé de Luze, and is a surreal story that focuses on a young Latina who was abused as a child. This version is seventy percent in Spanish.
The role Keanu Reeves plays was originally intended to be a supporting one. However during editing Lionsgate decided to make the story focus on him, rather than the female lead.
This is the second film that Keanu Reeves and Ana de Armas have filmed together. The first was Knock Knock (2015).