Trivia

As Emile Hirsch was still a minor during production, all of his nude scenes were performed by a stunt double. For the lap dance scene, several pillows were placed between him and the dancer.

During the scene in the strip club when Emile Hirsch is trying to figure out how to smoke the cigar, the gag of him dropping the cigar was not scripted but rather a happy accident. The director liked it so much, he left it in.

The drawing of herself Danielle gives Matthew in the café was drawn by Elisha Cuthbert.

According to the commentary, Eli is based on writer/director Eli Roth.

In the scene-specific DVD audio commentary for the film Emile Hirsch reveals that when shooting the scene where Elisha Cuthbert forces him to strip, director Luke Greenfield wanted him to shave his chest hair but Hirsch who was 17 at the time refused because, as he himself puts it, "did not wanna shave off my manhood".