Quentin Tarantino turned down the role of President of the United States due to scheduling conflicts.

Tarantino was the studio's first choice to direct the film.

According to the DVD exec producers commentary, Eli Roth considered Quentin Tarantino for the role of the American Client but ultimately decided having that Takashi Miike and Tarantino visit the torture house would be pushing their luck.

Tarantino was supposedly considered to play the part of Stan Lee before Stan signed on.

Was the original choice to play Cucuy's role, but shooting on the film interfered with filming of Tarantino's Kill Bill.

Quentin Tarantino wrote the part of Mr. Pink for himself, but gave it away to Steve Buscemi.