At the time of filming, author John Grisham had casting approval over all film adaptations of his work, and specified that "no professional child actors in Hollywood" be cast as Mark Sway. He felt that the film wouldn't work with a well-known child actor (sporting a phony accent) in the role and that by casting an unknown in the part (preferably from the Memphis area, where the story is set) the film's credibility wouldn't be compromised. Brad Renfro, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee beat out thousands of actors for the role, including Macaulay Culkin.
The Elvis PEZ dispenser was designed specifically for this movie, by the props department, and has never been made by PEZ.
The cast and crew put on a party for Brad Renfro's 11th birthday during filming of the movie and he received his first electric guitar as gift.
Susan Sarandon said she enjoyed a terrific rapport with Brad Renfro, a 11-year-old Tennessee boy plucked from obscurity to play opposite her, but that he didn't lend himself to being mothered, and her relationship toward him wasn't maternal.
This is obvious from an exchange when they cross paths during their various publicity rounds. Renfro tells her he rented "White Palace," in which she gets naked in the first 20 minutes for a memorably steamy sex scene. Unruffled, she asks him how he liked it."I couldn't finish it," he says. "It got boring.""You just watched the first scenes?" she asks. "I bet you didn't find those boring."
John Grisham was so pleased with this adaptation of his work that he agreed to sell the closely-guarded film rights to A Time to Kill (1996) on the condition that Joel Schumacher directed it. Akiva Goldsman also wrote both scripts.