"Matchstick Men is actually set nowhere," reveals novelist Eric Garcia. "I specifically didn't name a place or incorporate landmarks because I wanted to show that this kind of thing and these characters exist everywhere. It doesn't matter if it's a big city like Miami or Los Angeles, or a small suburb of Topeka, Kansas - wherever you are, you can get conned. Your life can change in an instant."

Grounding the story in L.A. for the film, Ridley Scott maintained Garcia's point of view by selecting an area that could stand in for countless American cities with its ubiquitous housing tracts, strip malls, bowling alleys, coffee shops and Laundromats and its comfortable suburban atmosphere: the San Fernando Valley.

The director turned to his longtime location scout Stuart Barter to help