Brad Pitt wanted to leave the production, but was threatened by a lawsuit. In the February 2, 1997, issue of Newsweek, Pitt called the film a "disaster", and said that "it was the most irresponsible bit of filmmaking - if you can even call it that - that I've ever seen. I couldn't believe it". Rumors of fighting on the set (especially over which star would be the focus of the film) plagued the production. The original script was discarded and there were at least seven subsequent rewrites. Pitt said the final version was "a mess". "The script that I had loved was gone," he said. "I guess people just had different visions and you can't argue with that. But then I wanted out and the studio head said, 'All right, we'll let you out, but it'll be $63 million for starters." (Harrison Ford later noted that Pitt "forgot for a moment that he was talking to someone whose job it was to write this s*** down".)
Brad Pitt was attacked while hanging out in West Belfast to perfect his Northern Irish accent for the movie.
Alan J. Pakula was tapped to direct because he was the only person acceptable to both Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt. It turned out to be the final film Pakula finished before his death.
The original script for the film was much darker than the version used for the final film. Amongst other elements: Pitt's Frankie the Angel character alternated between slaughtering all of the inhabitants of a crack house and crooning Irish music at a local pub; Ford's Tom O'Meara was a "hair bag cop" who got that unflattering nickname because he's been a uniformed officer for so long; and an entire scene consisted of O'Meara and his partner throwing vile insults at each other. This draft, written by Kevin Jarre, was the one that Brad Pitt read before deciding to sign onto the project.
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