After Hours (film) - Production

Production

The film is based on a screenplay that Joseph Minion wrote as part of an assignment for a film course at Columbia University. He was 26 years old at the time the film was produced. It was originally titled "Lies" after the 1982 Joe Frank monologue that inspired the story. The original title of the circulating screenplay that was read by Scorsese and the producers was "Surrender Dorothy."

The film was originally to be directed by Tim Burton, but Scorsese read the script at a time when he was unable to get financial backing to complete The Last Temptation of Christ, and Burton gladly stepped aside when Scorsese expressed interest in directing. After Hours was the first film of fiction directed by Scorsese in a decade not starring Robert De Niro.

The dialogue between Paul and the doorman at Club Berlin is adapted from Kafka's "Before the Law", a short story that is part of his novel The Trial.

British director Michael Powell was around quite a lot while the film was being made (he and editor Thelma Schoonmaker married soon afterwards). Nobody was sure how the film should end. Michael Powell said "He must finish up back at work" but this was initially dismissed as too unlikely and difficult. They tried many other endings, a few were even filmed. But the only one that everyone felt really worked was to have Paul finish up back at work just as the new day was starting.