and others – into films. One of these, The Big Knife (1955), matches Barton's life much more than Odets'. In it, an actor becomes overwhelmed by the greed of a film studio which hires him and eventually commits suicide. Another similarity to Odets' work is Audrey's death, which mirrors a scene in Deadline at Dawn, (1946) a film noir written by Odets. In that film, a character awakens to find that the woman he bedded the night before has been inexplicably murdered. Odets chronicled his difficult transition from Broadway to Hollywood in his diary, published as The Time Is Ripe: The 1940 Journal of Clifford Odets. (1988) The diary explored Odets' philosophical deliberations about writing and romance. He often invited women into his apartment, and he describes many of his affairs in the diary. These experiences, like the extended speeches about writing, are echoed in Barton Fink when Audrey visits and seduces Barton at the Hotel Earle. Turturro was the only member of the production who read Odets' Journal, however, and the Coen brothers urge audiences to "take account of the difference between the character and the man." The Coen brothers have stated that although the character of Fink is based on Odets, the character's appearance with "stand-up hair and glasses" is based on that of George S. Kaufmann. William Faulkner Some similarities exist between the character of W.P. Mayhew and novelist William Faulkner. Like Mayhew, Faulkner became known as a preeminent writer of Southern literature and later worked in the film business. Like Faulkner, Mayhew is a heavy drinker and speaks contemptuously about Hollywood. Faulkner's name appeared in the Hollywood 1940s history book City of Nets, which the Coens read while creating Barton Fink. Ethan explained in 1998: "I read this story in passing that Faulkner was assigned to write a wrestling picture... That was part of what got us going on the whole Barton Fink thing." Faulkner worked on a wrestling film called Flesh, (1932) which starred Wallace Beery, the actor for whom Barton is writing. The focus on wrestling was fortuitous for the Coens, as they participated in the sport in high school. However, the Coens disavow a significant connection between Faulkner and Mayhew, calling the similarities "superficial," "As far as the details of the character are concerned," Ethan said in 1991, "Mayhew is very different from Faulkner, whose experiences in Hollywood were not the same at