Ryan Gosling received his first Academy Award nomination in the 'Best Actor' category for this movie.
The film was shot in 23 days and finished one day ahead of schedule.
Was originally made as the short film Gowanus, Brooklyn (2004), which won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. Shareeka Epps and Karen Chilton reprise their roles as Drey and Drey's mother. Matt Kerr, who plays the substitute teacher Mr. Light in this film, played Mr. Dunne in the original short.
Rachel McAdams came to visit the set during the filming of the bar scene. Running low on bar extras, to help the producers out Rachel hopped in to help make the bar look busy. Her scene never makes the final cut.
The Dan Dunne character was originally written to be in his mid-thirties. However, the filmmakers changed this to accommodate Ryan Gosling's age. Gosling was 25 years old at the time of filming.