Larenz Tate and Martin Sheen have previously appeared in Dead Presidents (1995), a movie about a Vietnam vet who returned from war to support his family, only to get drawn into a life of crime. Sheen does not appear until the ending where, as the judge, he sentences the main character of 15 years to life in prison. Sheen would later play another judge named Frank Minis Johnson in Selma (2014), also starring Common.