Karren Karagulian has been in all of Sean Baker's films, and this is his biggest role in any of his films.
During a shot of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, a billboard can be seen promoting someone named Strawberry. This is a character from Sean Baker's earlier film, Red Rocket.
Sean Baker said he was already a fan of Mikey Madison's work after seeing her in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019), to the point where he rewatched it just to watch her scenes. While this film was in early development, he saw Madison in Scream (2022) with his wife/longtime producer Samantha Quan. As they were walking out of the theater, he immediately wanted to contact her agent for this part.