USA FILMS presents a WORKING TITLE production Distributed by
BILLY BOB THORNTON FRANCES McDORMAND "THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE" MICHAEL BADALUCCO RICHARD JENKINS SCARLETT JOHANSEN JON POLITO TONY SHALHOUB and JAMES GANDOLFINI
Casting by ELLEN CHENOWETH Music by CARTER BURWELL Costume Designer MARY ZOPHRES Production Designer DENNIS GASSNER Director of Photography ROGER DEAKINS, A.S.C., B.S.C. Co-Producer JOHN CAMERON
Executive Producers TIM BEAVAN and ERIC FELLNER
Produced by ETHAN COEN Written by JOEL COEN & ETHAN COEN Directed by JOEL COEN

The Man Who Wasn't There is the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in the summer of 1949, The Man Who Wasn't There has as its title character Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton), a barber in a small northern California town. Ed is dissatisfied with his life, but his wife Doris' (Frances McDormand) infidelity presents Ed with an opportunity for blackmail that he thinks will help him to change it. However, Ed's scheme unravels and lays bare even darker secrets before leading to murder.

The Man Who Wasn't There is a tale of passion, crime and punishment, all presented in glorious black-and-white. The film reunites the Coens with many of their frequent creative collaborators on both sides of the camera, including leading lady Frances McDormand (starring in her first Coen brothers movie since winning the Academy Award as Best Actress, for the Coens' "Fargo").

"They got this guy, in Germany. Fritz Something-or-other. Or is it. Maybe it's Werner. Anyway, he's got this theory, you wanna test something, you know, scientifically-how the planets go round the sun, what sunspots are made of, why the water comes out of the tap-well, you gotta look at it. But sometimes you look at it, your looking changes it. Ya can't know the reality of what happened, or what would've happened if you hadden a stuck in your own goddamn schnozz. So there is no "what happened." Not in any sense that we can grasp, with our puny minds. Because our minds-our minds get in the way. Looking at something changes it. They call it the "Uncertainty Principle". Sure, it sounds screwy, but even Einstein says the guy's on to something."

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