Responding to why he chose Detroit as the backdrop for his film Only Lovers Left Alive, director Jim Jarmusch explained, “Detroit is a city I really deeply love…When I was a child it was almost mythological, the Paris of the Midwest. And now what’s happening with Detroit is very tragic and sad. I was drawn to it, visually and historically, for its musical culture, industrial culture, and post-industrial visual feeling.”

According to second unit DP Christos Moisides “It wasn’t the ruin porn, it was more the haunting beauty that’s so cinematic. It may not be pristine beauty, but there’s a lot of amazing history.” First AD Greg Brautigan added that “[Jarmusch] wanted to keep it natural and very stark.”

Partly shot on-location in Detroit, Jarmusch used a 135-year-old Victorian house in Detroit as Adam’s home. According to location manager Chris-Teena Constas, “one of the main and most important locations was Adam’s house…They really wanted to stay true and authentic to Detroit and the architecture.”