Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid - Production Notes

Production Notes

In the summer of 1980, comedian Steve Martin was having lunch with director Carl Reiner and screenwriter George Gipe. They were also discussing a screenplay Martin had written when he suggested that they use a clip from an old film. From this suggestion came the idea of using all sorts of clips from films throughout the entire feature. The three men left the lunch thinking about how they could incorporate all of these old clips into a story. Reiner planned to work Martin into the old footage via over-the-shoulder shots so that it looked like the comedian was talking to these vintage actors (this strategy ended up being used for only one scene in the film; opposite Cary Grant in a clip from Suspicion.) Reiner and Gipe spent countless hours looking through classic films for specific shots and "listening for a line that was ambiguous enough but had enough meat in it to contribute a line". They took lines of dialogue from clips they wanted to use and juxtaposed them while also trying to write a story based on them. Reiner and Gipe finally worked out a story and then met with Martin who contributed some funny material of his own.

Martin purposely chose not to watch any classic film noirs because he "didn't want to act like Humphrey Bogart ... I didn't want to be influenced". The filmmakers enlisted some of the people that helped define many of the classic films from the 1940s. Costume designer Edith Head created over 20 suits for Martin in similar fashion to those worn by Cary Grant or James Stewart. Production designer John De Cuir, a veteran with 40 years of experience, designed 85 sets over the ten-week shooting schedule. Director of photography Michael Chapman studied the angles and lighting popular among '40s film noir, conducting six months of research with Technicolor to try to match the old film clips with his new footage.

Principal photography began on July 7, 1981 with the bulk of the shooting done on soundstages of Laird International Studios in Culver City and three exterior locations shot in and around Los Angeles. Martin usually acted opposite actors dressed exactly like the classic movie stars he was interacting with so that he had someone to talk to and would respond to his lines.

The gag used in the film that employs Rigby going berserk whenever the term "cleaning woman" is heard is an homage to the old Slowly I Turned vaudeville routine.