Bully

Brad Renfro was arrested during filming for attempting to steal a yacht.

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Although the events the film is based on took place in 1993, the film itself was deliberately set in 2000, the year it was shot, to avoid potential anachronism problems.

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The film was shot in 23 days in August 2000.

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In 2018, Daniel Franzese stated that Bijou Phillips was extremely cruel to him and subjected him to numerous homophobic and fat-shaming taunts while on set, years before he came out as gay, trying to goad him into admitting he was gay and laughing at his appearance when he took off his shirt at a pool party and even tweaked one of his nipples. He also said that because she came from a famous family, the producers ignored it and allowed her behavior to continue. However, Franzese noted that his co-stars Michael Pitt, Brad Renfro and Nick Stahl repeatedly and loudly took his side and warned Phillips about her behavior, and that Stahl tried to persuade her to apologize.

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Bobby Kent and his family were Iranian. They moved to the United States in 1979, during the Iranian Revolution, when he was six years old. "Kent" is his Anglicized surname; the family name was originally Hayam.

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It was Daniel Franzese's first film.

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It is Brad Renfro's favorite among the films he appeared in.

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Brad Renfro and Marc Pearson, who played the Puccio brothers, died of drug overdoses in January 2008 and 2010, at the ages of 25 and 23.

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Producer David McKenna removed his name from the project. He is credited in the titles as 'Zachary Long'.

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This was the beginning of Brad Renfro's career decline. Because of his drug addiction problems in his personal life, his professional career began to suffer until his early and sudden death in 2008. His tragedy was like that of Corey Haim and many other child actors in Hollywood.

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As of December 2024, four of the seven characters convicted and sent to prison for their roles in Bobby Kent's death had been out of prison for decades: Heather Swallers, Ali Willis, Derek Dzvirko and Lisa Connelly. Swallers and Dzvirko had been released on parole before this film was released, and Willis was released only two months before its September 2001 premiere. Marty Puccio, Donnie Semenic and Derek Kaufman remain incarcerated, with no indication that any of them will be released on parole in the near future.

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A documentary titled Payback for a Bully (1999) was made for the series American Justice (1992).

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The word "fuck" and its derivatives are spoken 274 times throughout the film.

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The Region 1 DVD has an audio option that alters the soundtrack to play only the background music.

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Asked what the artistic justification was for the exploitative scene in which Ali (played by Bijou Phillips) sits on a chair with her legs apart while the camera shoots from below between her legs, Larry Clark said: "Bijou comes to work without panties. Playing Ali and Ali like a little whore, you know? Bijou is perfect for the role, and if she comes to the role without panties, I'm going to shoot it. So I have no justification, I just liked the shot."

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The film ends with title cards showing the time each of Bobby Kent's killers was sentenced, from imprisonment for the murder to Marty Puccio's death sentence. Although many of these sentences had been reduced by 2000 (the time this film was shot), the film's 2000 setting reflected how the events actually unfolded in 1993. Larry Clark added new title cards with updates for the home video release, including several paroles and Marty's sentence being converted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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The character Heather wears a T-shirt bearing the logo of the video game company Rockstar. In 2006, Rockstar would release an unrelated game titled "Bully." Bijou Philips, who plays Ali, would later voice a character in Rockstar's game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). She voiced Helena Wankman, one of the girlfriends of the protagonist CJ.

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Brad Renfro was considered miscast because he was thought to be meant to play the bully.

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Nick Stahl's middle name is actually Kent.

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The facts and details about this true story are covered in the book American Justice, Payback for a Bully (1999).

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Brad Renfro and Bijou Phillips also appeared together in the film Tart, in which Brad's character kills Bijou's character.

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Ali's Ford Mustang in the film was never offered in that model with a 5.0 V8 engine. The 5.0 V8 engine was offered in the Ford Mustang model from the time the film's *original* events took place.

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Nick Stahl and Daniel Franzese would later appear together in On the Inside (2011).

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Bobby's car is a 1995 Chevrolet Camaro.

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This is Jessica Sutta's debut.

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