 In writing a musical about film making in Hollywood , Sparks were also informed by their own past film projects . In the late 1980s and early 1990s , they had spent six years trying to get their film Mai , the Psychic Girl produced . Based on a Japanese manga comic , the film was at one time supposed to be directed by Tim Burton . Although the music had been completed , the film failed to materialise , an experience that coloured their portrayal of the studio head in The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman . Earlier , Sparks had worked with French director Jacques Tati on Confusion , another film project that remained uncompleted . Having had numerous meetings with Tati over the course of a year , they were aware that , like other great European directors , Tati had been wooed by Hollywood : " He showed me a letter from Paramount " , Ron Mael recalled . " He said : ‘ Oooh ! They take me to Hollywood and they have a limousine for me . ’ But it was kind of mocking of the whole similar situation to our fantasy Bergman thing . He could see Hollywood for what it was . " 
