During the filming of Dead Poets Society (1989), the actors portraying the main high school juniors took a break to audition for this movie. Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, Gale Hansen, and James Waterston all auditioned for the part of Billy. Dylan Kussman and Allelon Ruggiero recorded a video of the boys walking around New York City before and after the audition. Dylan later uploaded the video to YouTube in 2014.
Actor Chris Lemmon, the son of star Jack Lemmon who plays the central character Jake Tremont, played the young Jake in flashback sequences in the movie.
According to the driver's license of Jake Tremont (Jack Lemmon), his date of birth of was 25th June 1911. Lemmon was actually born on 8th February 1925. This is a gap of around fourteen years. Age make-up was applied to Lemmon to portray him as older than he actually was. The picture was Oscar nominated for the Academy Award for Best Makeup in 1990 but the film did not win.
In one scene, Mario (Kevin Spacey) is wearing a Chatsworth jacket. Spacey is a graduate of Chatsworth High School.