The Man Who Wasn't There - Concept and Production

Concept and Production

The film was inspired by a poster that the Coen brothers saw while filming The Hudsucker Proxy; the poster showed various haircuts from the 1940s. The story takes place in 1949 and, Joel Coen admits, is "heavily influenced by" the work of James M. Cain, a writer best known for the novels Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Mildred Pierce. Many critics have also noticed a striking resemblance between the film and Albert Camus' The Stranger.

The cinematography of Roger Deakins is straightforward and traditional. Most shots are made with the camera at eye level, with normal lensing and a long depth of field. The lighting is textbook, with quarter-light setups.When Ed appears onscreen, he is almost always shown smoking an unfiltered Chesterfield, another detail true to the era in which the film is set. The Man Who Wasn't There was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 2001.

The film contains several mentions of UFOs throughout, in dreams and in conversation, as well as in various props, including an ashtray.

Though a black and white film, The Man Who Wasn't There was shot in color and transferred to black and white. Some prints were accidentally released with the first couple of reels in color.