According to film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, Dead Man is generally regarded as well-researched in regard to Native American culture.[9] The film is also described as one of few about Native Americans to be directed by a non-native that offers a nuanced understanding of the individual differences between Native American tribes with considerable detail given that is relatively free of common stereotypes.[10] Regarding the character Nobody, Jarmusch stated: "I wanted to make an Indian character who wasn’t either a) the savage that must be eliminated, the force of nature that’s blocking the way for industrial progress, or b) the noble innocent that knows all and is another cliché. I wanted him to be a complicated human being."[10]
The film intentionally leaves conversations in the Cree and Blackfoot languages untranslated and without subtitles, for the exclusive understanding of members of those nations, including several in-jokes aimed at Native American viewers.[9] Nobody was also played by a First Nations actor, Gary Farmer, who is Cayuga.
