Inspired by Michel Gondry's personal experience during the post-production of Mood Indigo (2013). Amongst the similarities:
On top of this, the movie within the movie in The Book of Solutions (2023) is 50s-style movie with a mouse, like Mood Indigo (2013).
- Gondry did conduct an orchestra with his body for Mood Indigo (2013) (although the music was already composed);
- the subplot with Sting refers to the participation of Paul McCartney who plays bass on several tracks in Mood Indigo (2013);
- Gondry experimented with a non-chronological editing technique for Mood Indigo (2013) to avoid watching the first scenes too much: he started in the middle with scene 30, then scene 29, then scene 31, and so on until he reached both ends.
- Gondry apparently entertained with Mood Indigo (2013) the idea of a four-hour movie with an animated intermission in the middle;
- during the shoot of Mood Indigo (2013), Gondry was taking pills to regulate his mood and his obsessive behavior, then stopped after editing began, and he blew up like in the movie. Soon after, he was diagnosed bipolar by a psychiatrist.
On top of this, the movie within the movie in The Book of Solutions (2023) is 50s-style movie with a mouse, like Mood Indigo (2013).
Michel Gondry originally wrote the script in English around 2018-2019, to put some distance between himself and the movie. The script stayed unused years on his computer, until it was found by his former assistant. He first envisioned Adam Driver in the lead role, but then moved the project to France (and French) and asked Pierre Niney, "who didn't hesitate a minute to be annoying."
Before making Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Michel Gondry wrote in a notebook all the problems he faced while making Human Nature (2001), and the solution to each problem. Thats why he says that the main character in The Book of Solutions (2023) is around 70% him.
In 2012, when he first got his lucky break in the movie business, Pierre Niney was invited to a pre-Césars party (the French equivalent to the Oscars). He asked one of his favorite directors, Michel Gondry to be his sponsor, and expected no response, but he replied the day before, and they met and had a great time.
The character of Aunt Denise in the movie is inspired by Gondry's own aunt Suzette, who was the subject of his documentary The Thorn in the Heart (2009). On top of that, The Book of Solutions (2023) was partly filmed at her house in Villemagne, in the South of France.