One of Sorrentino's inspirations for this movie was Flaubert's famous statement that he intended to write a novel about nothing. Sorrentino stated, "By 'nothing' he meant the rumors and gossip, the thousand ways we have of wasting time, the things that irritate us or delight us but that are so short-lived that they make us doubt the meaning of life. That 'nothing' makes up many people's entire lives." He also said that he wanted to depict "the great thing about life, the fact that you can be surprised by something that you'd decided was vulgar and wretched, and then suddenly what is vulgar and wretched reveals its own entirely unexpected grace."
During a conversation, Jep says, "Who am I? There is a novel that begins like this." That novel is André Breton's "Nadja" (1928). The central part of the movie, which deals with the relationship between Jep and Ramona, draws extensively from Breton's novel.
In an interview conducted by the Italian radio station Radio 2, Paolo Sorrentino claimed that, at some point during production, he was considering to call the film "L'Apparato Umano." "L'Apparato Umano" is also the title of the fictional novel written by the protagonist of the film, Jep Gambardella, played by Toni Servillo.
Dedicated to the famous Italian rugby player and journalist Giuseppe D'Avanzo - good friends with the director Paolo Sorrentino - who passed away during the production of the film.