Joel Coen

The Man Who Wasn’t There

The Man Who Wasn’t There

The Coen brothers peer into the existential abyss of the atomic age in this coolly riveting, drolly profound noir thriller. In a performance of masterfully calibrated understatement, Billy Bob Thornton stars as a disaffected barber in 1940s California whose suspicion that his wife (Frances McDormand) is cheating on him leads him down a crooked path of blackmail and murder. Fusing the expressionistic black and white and hard-boiled poetry of classic noir with their own idiosyncratic feeling for sinister, surreal Americana, Joel and Ethan Coen craft an arresting vision of the cruelty of fate and the mystery of our place in the cosmos.

Film Info

  • United States, United Kingdom
  • 2001
  • 116 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #1301

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director of photography Roger Deakins, with 5.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary featuring filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen and actor Billy Bob Thornton
  • New conversation between the Coens and author Megan Abbott
  • Archival interview with Deakins
  • Short making-of documentary and deleted scenes
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by author Laura Lippman

    New cover by Marc Aspinall

Purchase Options

Coming soon, available Feb 24, 2026

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director of photography Roger Deakins, with 5.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary featuring filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen and actor Billy Bob Thornton
  • New conversation between the Coens and author Megan Abbott
  • Archival interview with Deakins
  • Short making-of documentary and deleted scenes
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by author Laura Lippman

    New cover by Marc Aspinall
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Cast
Billy Bob Thornton
Ed
Frances McDormand
Doris
Ana-Sofia Mastroianna
Carcanogues
Michael Badalucco
Frank
Katherine Borowitz
Ann Nirdlinger
Richard Jenkins
Walter Abundas
Scarlett Johansson
Birdy Abundas
Jon Polito
Creighton Tolliver
Tony Shalhoub
Freddy Riedenschneider
James Gandolfini
Big Dave
Christopher Kriesa
Persky
Brian Haley
Krebs
Jack McGee
Burns
Credits
Director
Joel Coen
Written by
Joel Coen
Written by
Ethan Coen
Produced by
Ethan Coen
Executive producer
Tim Bevan
Executive producer
Eric Fellner
Coproducer
John Cameron
Director of photography
Roger Deakins
Production designer
Dennis Gassner
Costume designer
Mary Zophres
Original score
Carter Burwell
Film editor
Roderick Jaynes
Film editor
Tricia Cooke
Supervising sound editor
Skip Lievsay
Casting by
Ellen Chenoweth
Unit production manager
John Cameron
First assistant director
Betsy Macgruder
Second assistant director
Jonathan McGarry
Associate film editor
David Diliberto
Associate producer
Robert Graf
Visual effects supervisor
Janek Sirrs