The Man Who Wasn't There

The idea came off the barbershop set of The Hudsucker Proxy: a wall poster of 1940s haircuts set the Coens thinking about the man who cut them. The title comes from the 1899 poem Antigonish. The film was not shot in black and white but on colour 35 mm, converted in post, partly because black and white stock had grown scarce. Contract and marketing terms put it out in colour in some countries. Deakins kept a wide range of greys and low contrast with fewer, larger lights, and mostly shot at eye level with normal lenses and long depth of field. The Santa Rosa exteriors took one day in Orange, California, after more than two weeks dressing those streets back to 1949. At Cannes the Best Director prize went to Joel Coen, shared with David Lynch for Mulholland Drive; he directed with Ethan Coen, and Directors Guild rules left only Joel credited. Deakins won Best Cinematography at the BAFTAs and was nominated in the same category at the 74th Academy Awards, where the prize went to The Lord of the Rings. A good fit if you want the crime to come out of stacked coincidence rather than a plan, and the camera to stay cold. Not for viewers who want a fast crime story out from under the barber’s voice.