Trivia / Double Indemnity

• Blooper: Fred MacMurray neglected to remove his wedding ring while playing the unmarried Walter Neff.
• Breakthrough Hit: For Billy Wilder.
• Creator-Preferred Adaptation: James M. Cain himself loved the changes in the film—specifically the framing story of Neff recounting the events for a recording, and the ending.
• Development Hell: There were plans to remake the film in The '70s with Robert Redford as Walter Neff, but it never got off the ground.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Subverted; Billy Wilder had Barbara Stanwyck wear a blonde wig to underscore Phyllis' "sleazy phoniness".
• Hostility on the Set: Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler did not get along whilst writing the script, a process that was apparently filled with arguments. Wilder claimed that he flaunted his womanizing ability at the time just to torment the sexually repressed Chandler. One day during production Chandler failed to show up at work and was tracked down at his home; he went through a litany of reasons why he could no longer work with Wilder. "Mr. Wilder frequently interrupts our work to take phone calls from women" . . . "Mr. Wilder ordered me to open up the window. He did not say please" . . . "He sticks his baton in my eyes" . . . "I can't work with a man who wears a hat in the office. I feel he is about to leave momentarily". Unless Wilder apologized, Chandler threatened to resign. Wilder surprised himself by apologizing. "It was the first—and probably only—time on record in which a producer and director ate humble pie, in which the screenwriter humiliated the big shots."
• Missing Episode: The lost ending.
• Money, Dear Boy: Edward G. Robinson was reluctant to take on a third-billed role until he realized that he was getting paid the same as Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray for doing less work.
• Playing Against Type: Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck were both reluctant to accept the roles of Neff and Phyllis respectively: MacMurray was principally a comedic actor, while Stanwyck was worried about what playing such a singularly nasty character would do to her career. Edward G. Robinson^note who had been consistently top-billed throughout the decade-plus since his Star-Making Role in Little Caesar was also reluctant to accept a supporting role. Then he saw the paycheck.
• Throw It In!: The incredibly suspenseful scene in which Phyllis can't get her car to start after dumping Dietrichson's body was not in the script. Depending on what story you listen to, it actually occurred during filming (a true Throw It In!), or was inspired by Billy Wilder's having some car trouble on his way to lunch just after filming the scene — he allegedly rushed back onto the set, insisting on a reshoot.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The original script had two possible endings — the one that ended up in the film, and an alternate ending which continued after that scene to show Neff's execution in the gas chamber. This gas chamber scene was actually filmed, but Wilder ultimately decided not to use it. The Media Watchdogs had objected to the scene as "unduly gruesome"; however, Wilder claimed that his reasons for cutting it were entirely artistic: it was already clear from the preceding scene that Neff was doomed, and actually seeing him die didn't tell the audience anything they didn't already know. The footage of this scene has unfortunately been lost, but some production stills remain.
  • Dick Powell was the first choice for Walter Neff and really wanted it, but he was under contract to another studio and they wouldn't allow it. He was enraged and tore up his contract. George Raft was an early choice to play Neff. Apparently he refused to accept that Neff wasn't an undercover cop investigating Phyllis, or something....
  • James Cagney, Alan Ladd, Fredric March, and Spencer Tracy were all up for Walter Neff, but evidently all passed on the role.
  • Susan Hayward was considered for Lola Dietrichson.
• Write Who You Know: Mr. Dietrichson is an oil company executive. Raymond Chandler was an oil company executive before he became a writer.

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