Editing Double Indemnity (section)

===Writing===
[[File:Double indemnity screenshot 7.jpg|left|thumb|Edward G. Robinson as Barton Keyes]]
The restrictions imposed by the Hays Code made adapting ''Double Indemnity'' a challenge. Wilder's writing partner [[Charles Brackett]] helped with the treatment before bowing out.<ref name="Dobbs, Lem 2014">Dobbs, Lem (commentary),Redman, Nick (commentary), Wilder, Billy (director). 2014. "Double Indemnity Feature Commentary". Blu-ray DVD. Universal Studios.</ref> Wilder characterized their time apart: "1944 was 'The Year of Infidelities'...Charlie produced ''[[The Uninvited (1944 film)|The Uninvited]]''...I don't think he ever forgave me. He always thought I cheated on him with Raymond Chandler."<ref name="sikmain"/>

Cain was Wilder's first choice as a replacement for Brackett; Since Cain was working at 20th Century Fox, he was never asked to work on the film.<ref name="Moffat"/><ref name="mcgmain">[[Patrick McGilligan (biographer)|McGilligan, Patrick]] (1986). ''Backstory: Interviews with Screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age''. Los Angeles: University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-05689-3}}. p. 125–8</ref> Sistrom suggested [[Raymond Chandler]], whose 1939 novel ''[[The Big Sleep]]'' he had admired.<ref name="Dobbs, Lem 2014"/>

New to Hollywood, Chandler demanded $1,000 and at least one week to complete the screenplay, not realizing he would be paid $750 per week and that it would take fourteen.<ref name="Moffat">Moffat, Irving. "[https://archive.org/details/worldofraymondch00miri/page/45/mode/1up On the Fourth Floor of Paramount]", ''The World of Raymond Chandler''. A&W Publishers, 1977. 43–51.</ref> Wilder characterized Chandler's first draft as "useless camera instruction"; to teach Chandler screenwriting, Wilder gave him a copy of his script for ''[[Hold Back the Dawn]]''.<ref name="Lally"/> They did not get along during the next four months. Chandler quit once, submitting a long list of grievances about Wilder to Paramount. Chandler did agree to appear in the film, glancing up from a magazine as Neff walks outside Keyes' office; this is the only professional footage of him.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jun/05/raymond-chandler-double-indemnity-cameo | title = Chandler's double identity | last = Wooton | first = Adrian | date = June 5, 2009 | work = [[The Guardian]] | access-date=June 7, 2009}}</ref>

Chandler and Wilder made considerable changes to Cain's story. Because the Hays Code demanded criminals pay onscreen for their transgressions, the double suicide at the end of the novella was not permissible. The solution was to have the two protagonists mortally wound each other.<ref name="Muller">[[Eddie Muller|Muller, Eddie]] (1998). ''Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir''. New York: St. Martin's Press. {{ISBN|978-0-312-18076-8}}. 56–9.</ref> The character of Barton Keyes was changed from a fairly clueless colleague into a mentor and antagonist to Neff.<ref name="Dobbs, Lem 2014" />

Chandler felt that Cain's dialogue would not play well onscreen, but Wilder disagreed; after he hired contract players to read passages of Cain's text aloud, he conceded to Chandler. Chandler also scouted for locations including Jerry's Market on [[Melrose Avenue]], where Phyllis and Walter discreetly meet to plan and discuss the murder.<ref name="Creatures">{{cite book | last1 = Phillips | first1 = Gene D. | title = Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir | location = Lexington | publisher = [[University Press of Kentucky]] | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-0-8131-2174-1 | url = https://archive.org/details/creaturesofdarkn00phil/page/170 }}</ref>

Chandler was a recovering alcoholic. Wilder said that "He was in [[Alcoholics Anonymous]]...I drove him back into drinking."<ref name="Lally" />{{rp|129}} An embittered Chandler wrote in ''[[The Atlantic|The Atlantic Monthly]]'' in November 1945 that "The first picture I worked on was nominated for an Academy Award...but I was not even invited to the press review held right in the studio."<ref name="Creatures" />{{rp|181}} Wilder responded, "How could we? He was under the table drunk..." Wilder's experience with Chandler drew him to adapt [[Charles R. Jackson]]'s novel [[The Lost Weekend (novel)|''The Lost Weekend'']], about an alcoholic writer, as his [[The Lost Weekend|next film]]; Wilder wanted the film "to explain Chandler to himself."<ref name="dvd2" /> [[Library of America]] included the ''Double Indemnity'' screenplay in its second volume of Chandler's work, ''Later Novels and Other Writings'' (1995).

Cain was impressed with the screenplay, calling it "the only picture I ever saw made from my books that had things in it I wish I had thought of. Wilder's ending was much better than my ending, and his device for letting the guy tell the story by taking out the office dictating machine – I would have done it if I had thought of it."<ref name="mcgmain" />