Harvey Keitel and Martin Sheen learned their accents for this film from James L.W. West, while Andie MacDowell, who is a native Southerner, developed her own accent. Keitel spent most of a day talking with West and taping his speech. Sheen later listened to these tapes.
The name Shadrach is Biblical, and comes from the Book of Daniel. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were three men of God who were put into a fiery furnace, but who came out unscathed, because the Lord had protected them. They had been put in there by King Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon, when they refused to bow to an idol. (Daniel 3:1-29)
Harvey Keitel and Andie MacDowell starred in Ginostra (2002).