Quentin Tarantino met Robert Forster in a restaurant and handed him the script, saying "You're going to do this, and that's all there is to it". Forster was naturally thrilled, having had a major career slump. This film saw him come back in a big way, even landing an Oscar nomination.
The scene when Max and Jackie talk (and Max discusses that he had work done on his hair to make him look more youthful) was suggested by Robert Forster. Forster had such surgery when his hairline began to disappear and thought it fit the character. Tarantino was delighted that Forster was willing to openly discuss the procedure and immediately wrote it into the screenplay.
When Pam Grier walked in to audition for Quentin Tarantino, "there were all my posters from twenty years ago, when I was just a piss and vinegar kid", she recalled. "And I said, 'Did you put these up because I was coming over?' And he said, 'No. I was gonna take them down because you were coming over!'"
Quentin Tarantino compares the film to Rio Bravo (1959). "It's a hangout movie", he explained. "Jackie Brown is better the second time, and I think it's even better the third and the fourth time. Maybe even the first time we see it, we go, 'Why are we doing all this hanging out? Why can't we get to more of the plot?' But, now the second time you see it, and the third time you see it, you're not thinking about the plot anymore. You're waiting for the hangout scenes. To me, that's the thing that Rio Bravo (1959) did. I remember the first time I saw Rio Bravo (1959), but I remember more the fifteenth time I saw Rio Bravo (1959). It's about hanging out with the characters."
Quentin Tarantino: [Acuna Boys] When Jackie (Pam Grier) and Sheronda (Lisa Gay Hamilton) are in the food court at the mall making the bag exchange, one of the cups on the table reads "Acuna Boys". The Acuna Boys is the name of the gang that is run by Esteban Vihaio in Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004). The Acuna Boys also are featured in Grindhouse (2007), in the form of an intermission advertisement. The Acuna Boys also are featured again in Death Proof (2007), as the character of Arlene is seen sipping from a Acuna Boys soda.