Production
Tequila Sunrise was filmed on location at Manhattan Beach, California, USA.
Before filming commenced, actors attached to the lead male roles included Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin, Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges.
The expensive menswear and slicked-back hair sported by Kurt Russell's character, Detective Lieutenant Nick Frescia, was modelled upon Pat Riley, the basketball coach that director Robert Towne initially intended for the role. Russell was quoted as saying that "Riley's look was right for this film because he was arrogantly confident but not offensive."
The famous love scene between Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer takes place in a hot tub, that was reportedly not properly constructed or chlorinated, resulting in skin rashes and splinters for the actors and their body doubles, and causing production to halt for a few days.
Director Robert Towne wanted Dale McKussic (Mel Gibson) to go up in smoke at the end of the film, but one of the conditions Warner Bros. set was that he must live. "Gibson's character was supposed to be a moth in the flame," said Towne. "The real high for him was never doing the drugs, but the danger of dealing the drugs."
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