Eddie, a cocaine-addicted womanizing casting director, lives in the Hollywood Hills, where his friend Mickey has come to stay with him temporarily after a fallout with his wife.

Anthony Drazan and David Rabe said some unnamed famous actors they approached to star in the film turned them down due to the depiction of drug use.

[1] The low-budget production was able to secure financing through the sale of foreign distribution rights, in addition to the actors working for minimal salaries.

"[8] Guthmann argued, "Instead of keeping the rude spirit that drove the play, Drazan takes the material too seriously and tries to refashion it as an allegory for our demoralized times -- even though, 14 years later, its observations, cultural idioms and druggie characters are all dated.

[7] At the 1998 Venice Film Festival, Penn's performance won him the Volpi Cup[10] and Drazan was nominated for the Golden Lion.