There is no Smyth, Tennessee. The Main Street location used in the film was a real Main Street for the town of Binghampton; a small town, which the city of Memphis annexed in 1919. The buildings hadn't changed much over the years and was a perfect place to film. It was right in the middle of the city of Memphis making transportation easy for the cast and crew.
Principle shooting for the movie took 19 days.
The lead character, Jason Potts is never seen in anything other than a long sleeve shirt. The actor has a few tattoos on his arms and the director didn't think the character would have a tattoo. At one point make-up was being applied to cover that tattoos in one scene, but daylight was fading and the actor was quickly given a long sleeve shirt so the scene could be shot with existing light.
Screenwriter Mark Jones named the town in the movie after the dorm he lived in during college - Smyth Dorm.
The last name for Dewayne, the city councilman, kept changing during the writing of the script. First it was Dewayne Hightower, then Dewayne Johnson and finally Dewayne Cotton.
Mark Jones: Director, screenwriter, executive producer. He's in the parade sequence, wearing a blond wig and a dress.