In the commentary, director Henry Jaglom mentions the horror anthology film 'Dead of Night (1945)' was one of his inspirations. In that film, an architect has deja vu over meeting a group of people, and they in turn share their own supernatural stories.
The title of the source 1978 novel of Déjà Vu (1985) is ''Always'' by Trevor Meldal-Johnsen. This title shares the same ''Always'' name with an independent feature film directed by actor-writer-director Henry Jaglom which debuted the same 1985 year [See: Always (1985)]. Ironically, Shelley Winters, who plays Olga Nabokova in Déjà Vu (1985), previously had had a part in Always (1985). In the spring of 1984, she filmed a few scenes, but she had a disagreement, threw a tantrum and left the set. Her agent pleaded with her to go back and resume her role, but she refused and her character was replaced. She did not appear in the final finished film of Always (1985). Moreover, even more bizarrely, director Henry Jaglom later made a picture actually called Déjà Vu (1997).