Brewster embezzles money from his department store to pay the blackmail. Ed decides to collect money by anonymously blackmailing Doris's boss, "Big Dave" Brewster, who he suspects is having an affair with her. A customer named Creighton Tolliver tells Ed that he is a businessman looking for investors to put up $10,000 in a new technology called dry cleaning.
He is married to Doris, a bookkeeper with a drinking problem, and works in a barbershop that is owned by his brother-in-law, Frank. In 1949, Ed Crane is a low-key barber in the town of Santa Rosa, California. Deakins received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and the film achieved multiple nominations and awards from other organizations. In the same way, the National Board of Review included it among its top ten films of the year and gave Thornton the award for best actor. Some media critics such as The Guardian, the BBC, and The Austin Chronicle referred to it as one of the best films of the year. However, it was well-received by film critics, who praised Roger Deakins' cinematography and the performances, especially the titular character played by Thornton. Upon its theatrical release, it was lukewarm at the box office. The film premiered and participated in the official selection at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where Joel Coen won the award for best director. Aesthetically, The Man Who Wasn't There was inspired by films from the 1940s and 1950s-including Shadow of a Doubt-and even science fiction films and documentaries of those decades.įilming took place on location in California and was originally shot in color, later converted to black and white. Cain's crime novels, primarily Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Mildred Pierce. The plot was heavily influenced by James M. The Coens began developing the idea from a 1940s haircut poster they saw while filming The Hudsucker Proxy. At the same time, it differs from it by including classical music, setting the plot in a small town, and having a protagonist outside the criminal underworld.
The film is in black-and-white and contains voiceover narration, reflecting elements of classic film noir. Drawn to the idea, Crane plans to blackmail his wife's lover for the money. Crane's situation changes when a stranger comes to the barbershop and offers him the opportunity to join him as a partner in a promising new business, in exchange for an investment of ten thousand dollars. The plot is set in 1949 and tells the story of Ed Crane, a withdrawn barber who leads an ordinary life in a small California town with his wife, who he suspects is having an affair with his boss. It stars Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, Richard Jenkins, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Polito, Tony Shalhoub, and James Gandolfini. The Man Who Wasn't There is a 2001 American crime film written, directed, and produced by Joel and Ethan Coen.