Actress Daphne Zuniga once said: "It's hard to admit, but I really was a lot like this character."

The scene where Gib teaches Alison to shotgun a beer was added to the script after John Cusack told Rob Reiner it was something he knew how to do.

Because John Cusack was only 17 and hence a minor during production, he had to seek legal emancipation from his parents in order to shoot on location.

A poster for director Rob Reiner's previous film, This Is Spinal Tap (1984), hangs on the closet in Gib's dorm room.

Many film critics have likened the film to being a modern update of It Happened One Night (1934).