One Hour Photo - Production

Production

Romanek intended the film to be much longer, but the studio ordered it to be cut shorter, and elements rearranged out of concerns about commerciality. The beginning, for example, was moved to the end. Also, several of Sy's narrative monologues were removed, and several scenes were re-shot with fewer lines. The original version also has older musical scores that were not used in the final product. A director's cut is not available to buy, but was shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

Trent Reznor, of the band Nine Inch Nails, composed the original film score, but Romanek opted not to use it. The music can be heard on the Nine Inch Nails EP Still.

In accordance with photography being the theme of the movie, many of the characters in the movie take their names from photographers. Examples include: Sy's assistant at the Savmart, Yoshi Araki (named for Nobuyoshi Araki); Det. Van Der Zee (James Van Der Zee); Det. Outerbridge (Paul Outerbridge); Maya Burson (Nancy Burson); and Savmart customers Mrs. von Unwerth (Ellen von Unwerth) and Mr. Siskind (Aaron Siskind). In addition, the hotel at the end of the movie, the Edgerton, is also named for a noted photographer — Harold Eugene Edgerton.

In one of the voice-over pieces Sy can be heard to say "They actually believe that any idiot that attends a two-day seminar can master the art of making beautiful prints in less than an hour. But of course, like most things, there's far more to it than meets the eye." In reality Robin Williams prepared for the role by training for two and-a-half days in a Southern California photo development lab.

In commentary, Romanek has gone on to state that he was partially inspired by the films of 'lonely men' from the 1970s, notably Taxi Driver.

In the DVD commentary, Romanek says that Jack Nicholson was first approached to play the lead character. Nicholson turned the role down.

In one scene, Sy watches the film The Day the Earth Stood Still while standing in front of his wall laminated with photos of the Yorkin family. In another, he watches the Simpsons episode "Cape Feare".