The film is inspired by a true story, with the real Antwone Fisher credited as the screenwriter and is based on his autobiographical book Finding Fish.

The film was produced by Todd Black, Randa Haines, and Washington and features a soundtrack by Mychael Danna.

Black was first inspired to make the film upon hearing the story from Fisher, who was then working as a security guard at Sony Pictures Studios.

[4] Antwone "Fish" Fisher is a temperamental young man from Cleveland, Ohio, with a violent history who is serving in the U.S. Navy.

His father was killed before he was born and his teenage mother, Eva Mae Fisher, ended up arrested soon after and put in jail, where she gave birth to him.

Antwone suffers years of physical and emotional abuse at Mrs. Tate's hands and is molested by her adult niece Nadine.

The rough life he had as a child has caused him to have a violent temper; after getting into a fight with a fellow sailor, Antwone is sentenced at a captain's mast to be demoted, fined, and restricted to the ship for 45 days.

Davenport confesses that he had been failing to deal with his own problems - particularly that he and his wife were unable to have children, and that treating Antwone prompted him to finally confront his demons.

In his novel Finding Fish, Antwone Fisher explains he took a free screenwriting class at Bethel A.M.E. Church after a chance encounter with a limo driver.

Black reviewed the script for a week and told Fisher that though he couldn't make a deal, he wanted to hire him full-time as a screenwriter.

Though Luke had no prior film credits, Washington wanted to give a younger generation of Black actors the opportunity to break through.

In the Cleveland neighborhood where scenes of Fisher's youth and homecoming were shot, the filmmakers renovated and reinforced structures like the apartment building where Eva Mae's character lives.

[7] The book The Slave Community, written by American historian John W. Blassingame and referenced in the film, was one of the first historical studies of slavery in the United States.

Davenport does not intend to justify her actions, but he seeks to help Antwone understand where her mentality of beatings and verbal abuse to keep the foster children subservient came from.

[11] Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times wrote, "There's a simplicity and heart to Antwone Fisher, Denzel Washington's directing debut, that's extremely appealing; the emotional wallop of the movie sneaks up on you, despite its entirely predictable trajectory.