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The original novel was set in the United States but Kahn and his co-screenwriter Laurence Ferreira-Barbosa moved the location to France. They stripped down the book to the core and concentrated all the action on the two leads. As in his previous films, Kahn prefers to tell a gripping story: in the confines of the car where the couple are forced to contend with each other’s presence and the tension slowly builds, reinforced by the dark tones of the music (Nocturnes by Debussy). The human side of the tragedy is central to this story: as the night progresses the primitive fear of Antoine colours the film. The ride becomes a nightmare in a world of anonymous roads, cars and neon lights. Nothing is what it seems. Kahn deliberately created a sense of unreality through the film and shot all the night car scenes in the studio.
However, Kahn needed strong actors to play the couple and preferred well-known stars who had never played together before. Especially the actor who would play Antoine would have to go through very strong emotions. He sent the script to Jean-Pierre Darroussin, without telling him his partner would be the beautiful actress Carole Bouquet. She had signed on the project at a very early stage. Darroussin, who normally plays simple characters and Bouquet (known for portraying elegance and sophistication) may seem an unlikely couple, but in RED LIGHTS manage to overcome their differences in a brilliant way.
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