Denys Arcand, who wrote and directed the successful French Canadian film "The Decline of the American Empire" (1986), developed the idea of returning to the characters years later due to a fascination with death and an idea of having a character who is expecting to die. Part of his interest in the subject matter related to both of his parents dying of cancer. He had tried to write screenplays about non-"Decline" characters going to die for 20 years prior to "The Barbarian Invasions", originally pitching the idea to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation but having difficulty with the subject matter being overly sentimental. He finally decided to try the story with characters from "The Decline of the American Empire" because of his fondness for its cast members. There are also characters from Arcand's 1989 film "Jesus of Montreal" in the film.