Inside Man is a 2006 crime-drama film starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Willem Dafoe and Jodie Foster, and directed by Spike Lee. The film's screenplay is written by Russell Gewirtz and produced by Brian Grazer. It was released in North America and several European markets on March 23 and 24, 2006.
The film was shot on location in New York City and features an expansive and diverse ensemble cast. In addition to being a cerebral action-oriented thriller, the film handles issues of good and evil in unexpected sources, corruption, anti-heroes, multiculturalism in America (and New York City in particular) post-September 11, 2001, and leaves several interpretations of right and wrong open to the audience.
The title comes from several different meanings of the term "inside man", and may be considered a use of wordplay.
During the opening credits, we see the side of the fake company van which reads, "Perfectly Planned Painting: We Never Leave Until the Job Is Done," foreshadowing Russell's ultimate escape plan - staying inside the bank after the heist, until the job is fully "done."
Many of the interrogation scenes were ad-libbed.
The barber in the scene at the exclusive men's club where Jodie Foster confronts Christopher Plummer is Vincent (his nameplate is affixed to the mirror, and Plummer addresses him by name too), who in real life was for many years the barber at the Down Town Association on Pine Street.
Washington's line to the Sikh in the coffee shop, "I'll bet you can get a cab, though," was not part of the script, but Spike Lee liked it so much that he left it in.
The music in the opening and closing credits of the movie was originally written by the Indian composer, A. R. Rahman, for the movie Dil Se.
Pieces of the score for Inside Man were also used in Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.Wikipedia
