The New York City scale model set was designed by Michael J. McAlister and Mark Stetson, with further effects provided by The Computer Film Company.

Upon its release in March 1994, The Hudsucker Proxy received mixed reviews from critics and bombed at the box office, but has since gained a cult following.

Soon thereafter, the company's founder and president, Waring Hudsucker, unexpectedly commits suicide during a business meeting by jumping out of a top-floor window.

Afterward, Sidney J. Mussburger, a ruthless member of the company's board of directors, knowing that Hudsucker Industries' bylaws call for Hudsucker's stock shares to be sold to the public, suggests a scheme to buy the controlling interest in the company by temporarily depressing the stock price by hiring a clearly incompetent president to run the business.

Across town, Amy Archer, a brassy Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for the Manhattan Argus newspaper, is assigned to write a story about Norville and find out what kind of man he really is.

One night, Amy searches the building for clues and meets Moses, who operates the tower's giant clock and knows "just about anything if it concerns Hudsucker".

The other executives at Hudsucker Industries decide to produce Norville's invention in hopes that it will flop and further depress the company's stock.

As 1959 progresses, Mussburger attempts suicide and is sent to an asylum, while Norville develops a new invention for kids: another enigmatic circle on a folded sheet of paper that ultimately turns out to be a frisbee.

Together, they began writing the script for The Hudsucker Proxy in 1981,[6] and continued during the filming of Crimewave (1985),[7] and post-production on Blood Simple (1984), during which Joel and Ethan Coen shared a house with Raimi.

[9] The dialogue is an homage to Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday (1940), while Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance as fast-talking reporter Amy Archer is reminiscent of Rosalind Russell and Katharine Hepburn, in both the physical and vocal mannerisms.

"[11] So the brothers started to pace around their apartment, taking turns on the typewriter, and when they found themselves stuck at a point, Raimi would do all sorts of tricks to get the boys back up.

[11] One film critic described the numerous influences: "From his infelicitous name to his physical clumsiness, Norville Barnes is a Preston Sturges hero trapped in a Frank Capra story, and never should that twain meet, especially not in a world that seems to have been created by Fritz Lang – the mechanistic monstrousness of the mailroom contrasted with the Bauhaus gigantism of the corporate offices perfectly matches the boss-labour split in Metropolis (1927).

This includes Moses' monologue at the beginning, the Hudsucker Clock, Mussburger's wristwatch, the inventions of both the hula hoop and frisbee, as well as Norville and Amy's conversation about Karma.

[16] Joel Silver's first choice for Norville Barnes was Tom Cruise, but the Coens persisted in a desire to cast Tim Robbins.

[14] To prepare for her role as Amy Archer, Leigh read the biographies of some of the most substantial ladies of the thirties and forties such as Rosalind Russell, Katharine Hepburn, and Jean Arthur.

Campbell was later effusive in his praise for the professionalism of the production and the other cast members, as well as being in awe that he was chosen to help Paul Newman rehearse before filming began.

[14] Production designer Dennis Gassner was influenced by fascist architecture, particularly the work of Albert Speer, as well as Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985),[13] Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art Deco movement.

[14] In addition, numerous sequences were filmed in downtown Chicago, particularly in the Merchandise Mart building for the entrance and lobby to Hudsucker Industries and The Blackstone Hotel Christmas ballroom.

Peter Chesney, mechanical effects designer on many Coen brothers films, created a pair of 16-foot angel wings for actor Charles Durning, who portrayed Waring Hudsucker.

[26] Despite the New York City setting, additional skyscrapers in Chicago, Illinois, provided inspiration for the opening sequence of the skyline, such as the Merchandise Mart and Aon Center.

"We took all our favorite buildings in New York from where they actually stood and sort of put them into one neighborhood," Gassner continued, "a fantasy vision which adds to the atmosphere and flavor."

"Marrying a live-action image with a painted or miniature element was, of course, nothing new, however, in the case of the zoom-in on Robbins from such a distance, keeping the full-size set locked in with the model building, that was state-of-the-art and the only way to do it was with computers," says McAlister.

[16][23] The work of The Computer Film Company (supervised by Janek Sirrs) included manipulations of the zoom-in shot of Norville at the beginning, as well as CGI snow and composites of the falling sequences.

[23] To create the two suicide falls, the miniature New York set was hung sideways to allow full movement along the heights of the buildings.

"[23] However, the wider amount of vision meant that the edges of the frame went beyond the fringes of the model city, leaving empty spaces with no buildings.

The popular music of the time is also reflected in the character of Vic Tenetta (Peter Gallagher), modeled after Dean Martin, who sings "Memories Are Made of This."

The studio suggested re-shoots, but the Coens, who held final cut privilege, refused because they were very nervous working with their biggest budget to date and were eager for mainstream success.

The site's consensus states, "Intriguingly strange and visually distinctive, The Hudsucker Proxy is ultimately almost – but not quite – as smart and absorbing as it needs to be.

"[34] Desson Thomson of The Washington Post described The Hudsucker Proxy as being "pointlessly flashy and compulsively overloaded with references to films of the 1930s.

But a pastiche it remains, as nearly everything in the Coen brothers' latest and biggest film seems like a wizardly but artificial synthesis, leaving a hole in the middle where some emotion and humanity should be.