Denzel Washington's daughter Olivia Washington plays a role in the movie, her first appearance in a film starring her father, but the pair only have a brief onscreen exchange at the start of the film in a police station.
Writer/director John Lee Hancock originally wrote the screenplay for the film in 1993 after completing his work on the Clint Eastwood picture Perfect World (1993). Incidentally, Eastwood, that film's director, intended the role he would take on in that film to go to Denzel Washington, so his casting in this film brings things full-circle.
Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, and Danny DeVito were all originally attached to direct this at separate points.
The license plate 2GAT123 (ubiquitous and nearing mythical status as a Hollywood prop license plate) appears at around 12 mins and can be seen on the car parked in Spot #28 as Deke and Sal walk through the parking lot outside of the police station. The prop plate has appeared in numerous other films, including L.A. Story (1991) and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), as well as many others.
Late actor Brandon Lee wanted a role in the film after reading the script back in 1993. He does have a small part--Lee can be seen on the television series Ohara (1987) as Kenji, playing on Albert's TV.