Maverick (film) - Production

Production

In August 1993, the production requested permission to film scenes of the riverboat along the Columbia River in Washington state. The artificial smoke released by the boat's chimney was considered to violate air-quality laws in Washington and Oregon and required approval for the scenes before their scheduled filming date in September 1993.

In Five Screenplays with Essays, Goldman describes an earlier version of the script, in which Maverick explains he has a magic ability to call the card he needs out of the deck. Although he is not able to do so successfully, the old hermit (Linda Hunt) he attempts to demonstrate it for tells him that he really does have the magic in him.

James Garner mentioned in various interviews that he believes that he was playing exactly the same character as he had in the original 1957 television series and that Gibson played that character's son. The script remains unclear as to whether that was the case or he was portraying Bret's father Beau, whom Garner had played once in a third season episode in 1959. (Roger Moore later played a completely different character also named Beau Maverick in the series' fourth season).