Tuesday, October 27

• Matt Damon and Josh Brolin Joining True Grit

  Variety reports that Josh Brolin and Matt Damon are looking to re-team with Joel and Ethan Coen for their upcoming "adaptation" of True Grit.

  OK, so Damon has never worked with the Coens before, but he did have a small scene in Finding Forrester, which starred Sean Connery who was in The Rock with Nicolas Cage, so it's practically a return. Brolin is certainly returning, having worked with the Coens on their award-winning No Country For Old Men.

  Damon is in talks to play a lawman who teams up with U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges stepping in for the late John Wayne) and a 14-year-old girl that head into Native American territory to find the murderer of the girl's father. Brolin is negotiating to play the killer.

  The Coens are directing and producing True Grit from their script, which will follow the original Charles Portis novel that inspired the 1969 movie that garnered Wayne an Oscar. True Grit will start production next March and open in late 2010.

  The Coens' latest, A Serious Man, received strong reviews and is in theaters now.

  
  

  Posted 10/27/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | Matt Damon | Josh Brolin | True Grit

Friday, October 2

• The Coen Brothers Talk A Serious Man

  

  A Serious Man, the newest offering from Joel and Ethan Coen, comes out today, and Cinema Blend recently caught up with the pair to chat with them about the unusual comedy.

  Its story takes place in a Jewish suburb of Minneapolis during 1967 and involves a professor who undergoes an existential crisis when his wife contemplates ditching him for another man and his children steal money for marijuana and plastic surgery. The movie apparently weaves together themes of Jewish life in the Midwest with the changing social landscape of the late 60s. The soundtrack, which contains both religious and secular music, plays a large part in communicating the atmosphere, as Joel highlighted in the conversation.

  We thought it would be interesting to do something set in 1967 in that community, because that was such an interesting point in our own childhood. And part of it came from thinking about the music of that period, the combination of Jewish liturgical music and cantorial music and Jefferson Airplane. Just a bunch of different things.

  The brothers also mentioned that they wanted to get across the different feel of the Jewish communities of the Midwest as compared to those of New York or Los Angeles. Along those lines, they used a cast of mostly local unknowns. As Ethan pointed out, they also occassionally needed advisors.

  We didn't do any research per se. Once the script was written and we actually started making the movie, there were a couple of people who were our Jew technical advisors, helping us with the language and the liturgical stuff for the service or whatever. And of course, we got a raft of translators for the Yiddish beginning of the movie. A raft of dueling Yiddishists. Everyone had an opinion about what form of Yiddish we should use.

  The Coens also discussed their own upbringing amongst these Jewish communities, reminiscing about their Bar Mitzvahs, among other experiences. When asked about whether the movie will help audiences understand this particular Jewish experience, they said that their goal wasn't about understanding, but about getting the specificity right so that details could provide a successful backdrop for the story.

  
  

  Posted 10/02/2009 by Rich Z

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | A Serious Man

• A Serious Man Reviews and Opening Theaters

  Critics are going crazy for the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man, some even calling it their best movie. That's a bold statement, considering they made Fargo and The Big Lebowski. Oh, and 2007 Best Picture winner No Country For Old Men.

  Today it opens in just six theaters:

  * Pacific ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood, Hollywood
  * The Landmark, Los Angeles
  * Landmark Uptown Theater, Minneapolis
  * Clearview @ 1st and 62, New York
  * Landmark Sunshine Cinema, New York
  * Lincoln Plaza Cinema 6, New York

  Check the Focus Features site to see if and when it will be expanding near you.

  "Like many Coen films, it has a huge streak of shaggy dog to it — working far better as thematic exploration than as a movie unto itself — but you sense how deeply and profoundly it all matters to the duo (something they haven't always displayed with other films)."

  — Rob Vaux, filmcritic.com

  "Joel and Ethan Coen mine their adolescences in the mid-1960s Midwest and strike blackly comic Jewish gold with one of their finest films..."

  — Lou Lumenick, New York Post

  "Are the Coens jokers who tread on despair, or tragedians with a penchant for death's-head humor? Either way, Serious Man is their bleakest comedy. Its spiraling slapstick cruelty encompasses elements from both the lugubrious No Country for Old Men and the antic Burn After Reading, yet it easily outclasses both by endowing the put-upon puppet with a human dimension so that laughter is caught in our throats."

  — Fernando F. Croce, Slant Magazine

  "A Serious Man is a wonderfully odd, bleakly comic and thoroughly engrossing film. Underlying the grim humor are serious questions about faith, family, mortality and misfortune."

  — Claudia Puig, USA Today

  
  
  

  A Serious Man

  Trailer for this Coen brothers comedy

  Posted 10/02/2009 by reelz

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | A Serious Man

Tuesday, September 29

• Amy Landecker Wears an Unusual Wig for A Serious Man

  She calls it "Cousin It."

  To stay in character for a scene in the Coen brothers '60s-era comedy A Serious Man, Amy Landecker, who plays the protagonist's stoned and free-spirited neighbor, had to put on a wig — and not much else. As she told New York magazine, the scene called for nudity but her bikini wax seemed out of place for the times. Enter the merkin, a "niche" wig used, in this case at least, to help re-create the more filled-out look of an earlier era. While Landecker still seems fairly amused by the whole idea (she keeps a picture of Cousin It on her iPhone), she says she is now quite happy to have it gone.

  Incidentally, she is by no means the only actress to have faced this problem in recent times. Kate Winslet also needed an assist from a merkin for her nude scenes in the WWII-era movie The Reader. No word, though, on whether she gave hers a nickname.

  
  

  Posted 09/29/2009 by Bill

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | Amy Landecker | A Serious Man

Monday, September 28

• The Coen Brothers Visit A Serious Man with Biblical Tribulations

  "No Jews were hurt in the making of this motion picture," reads the disclaimer at the end of the Coen brothers' new feature A Serious Man.

  Tell that to Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) who, like his biblical predecessor Job, finds himself beset by a series of misfortunes he certainly doesn't seem to deserve. His family and professional life are coming apart at the seams for no apparent reason. Although he has a hard time appreciating it, the comedy comes from the contrast between his painfully serious persona and the sheer absurdity of everything that is thrown at him (a son addicted to pot and F-Troop, anonymous attacks on his job from a poison-pen letter writer, etc., etc.).

  Ultimately though, it was not God who designed all the indignities he faces. It was the directors. And they apparently had a good time doing it. Ethan Cohen confesses to the New York Times that:

  For us, the fun was inventing new ways to torment Larry.

  So, what this serious man gets for all his troubles is not so much answers, but a divine sense of humor.

  
  

  Posted 09/28/2009 by Bill

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | Michael Stuhlbarg | A Serious Man

Thursday, September 17

• Jefferson Airplane Sets the Stage for the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man

  The basic theme of the Coen brothers' A Serious Man is universal: An ordinary man in a settled life finds that everything he has taken for granted is coming apart at the seams. His wife is leaving, his children aren't living up to expectations, and he is facing mysterious troubles at work. But it's not just any time and place. It's 1967 Minneapolis and the times they are a changing.

  One sign of the changing times, with a prominent place in the movie, is Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love." The Cohen brothers explained to the New York Times that the song spoke to their own experiences growing up in the Midwest and provided just the right counterpoint to the more traditional elements of the suburban Jewish community where the movie takes place.

  It came early on. It was in the script.... Jefferson Airplane in general, that song in particular ... says the period loud and clear in a very specific way ... the contrast of that music, which seemed so sort of evocative of that particular time ... the intersection of that with Jewish cantorial music was interesting to us because that's part of what we remember all getting mixed together from that time period. And that seemed like a particularly potent mix, Grace Slick and that sort of Jewish cantorial liturgy.

  
  

  Posted 09/17/2009 by Bill

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | A Serious Man

Tuesday, September 15

• The Coen Brothers Talk True Grit

  Joel and Ethan Coen's next movie, the black comedy A Serious Man, opens October 2, but their follow-up to that, True Grit, seems like an unusual choice for the genre-hopping duo. Both Coens maintain that their version won't be a traditional remake of the John Wayne Western of the same name.

  "It's not really a remake, it's an adaptation," Ethan told ComingSoon. The Coens explained that they are returning to the original source material, the novel by Charles Portis, rather than rely on the 1969 feature. While Wayne won an Oscar for his performance in it, True Grit is rarely considered his best movie. The Coens agree:

  "We did see it as kids. I don't know if Joel's seen it since," said Ethan. "It made very little impression on me, the movie. We subsequently both read the book and the book made a huge impression and I guess that's kind of why we're interested in doing the movie."

  "It's not a great movie but it is a great book, actually," agreed Joel.

  The Coens are hoping to make Grit next, though it's not certain. Likewise, Jeff Bridges is rumored to be up for the Wayne role, but The Coens wouldn't confirm the casting, only commenting that they're "talking to somebody."

  
  

  Posted 09/15/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | True Grit | True Grit | A Serious Man

Friday, September 11

• The Dude, aka Jeff Bridges, May Star in Coen Brothers' True Grit

  Not only are Joel Coen and Ethan Coen remaking the 1969 Western True Grit, but The Dude may be cast in the role originally played by The Duke.

  Variety reports that Jeff Bridges, who played El Duderino in the Coens' The Big Lebowski, is in talks to star as U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn, the role that won John Wayne an Oscar in the original. In the story, Cogburn aids a young girl in search of the man who killed her father. While the original movie was more focused on Cogburn's point of view, the Coens' take will apparently focus more on the girl, which is more in keeping with the novel of same name by Charles Portis.

  The thought of remaking a Wayne movie with another actor in his role may seem like blasphemy, but hopefully we can trust the Coens to come up with a reimagining, not a rehash. And we imagine Bridges would make the role his own and not simply imitate all the trademark Wayne mannerisms.

  No other details about the cast have leaked yet as the movie's still a long way from release. As of now, it's currently expected for 2011.

  
  

  Posted 09/11/2009 by Rich Z

  Related: Ethan Coen | Jeff Bridges | Joel Coen | John Wayne | True Grit

Thursday, September 10

• New Clips Offer a Comic Look at the Frustrations of A Serious Man

  

  Coen brothers movies are all about the quirky characters, and their latest offering, A Serious Man, shows off quite a memorable and amusing cross-section of dysfunctional suburbanites from mid-1960s Minneapolis.

  The beautifully choreographed trailer released a few weeks ago set the stage. Now, a new batch of clips from the movie provide another preview of just how painfully serious physics professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is and just how hard a time he has getting anyone to take him seriously. Visited with one indignity after another and exiled from his family home to a rental at the Jolly Roger, his ability to adapt to the changing times is being sorely tested.

  
  

  Posted 09/10/2009 by Bill

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | Michael Stuhlbarg | A Serious Man

Thursday, July 30

• Trailer for the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man Laced with Dark Humor

  To say the trailer for the new Coen brothers movie A Serious Man was a real headbanger would be true ... but perhaps a bit misleading. In this beautifully choreographed teaser, the banging of the protagonist's head literally provides the beat for the scenes that follow.

  A Serious Man is set in 1967 Minneapolis and stars Michael Stuhlbarg as a physics professor at a small university whose life is (comically) coming apart at the seams. His wife is leaving, his unemployable brother is sleeping on the couch, and his daughter is stealing to save up for a nose job. And that's just for starters.

  The larger theme, according to the official summary, is "an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV." From what we see here, the world isn't cooperating much with his quest.

  
  
  Next Showing: A Serious Man is scheduled to debut October 2, 2009

  Posted 07/30/2009 by Bill

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | Michael Stuhlbarg | A Serious Man

Friday, September 12

• Burn After Reading and Coen Brothers Collection

  If you've checked out ReelzChannel.com lately, you may have noticed we've gone a little Coen crazy. What can we say? As fans, we're excited that a 10th Anniversary DVD for The Big Lebowski and the new movie Burn After Reading both released this week.

  So here's the rundown of our latest Coen content: We've got a review of The Big Lebowski 10th Anniversary DVD, as well as a review of Burn After Reading. Our First Fans segment shows audience reaction to the new movie. We've also got a Burn After Reading video interview with the Coen Brothers and an interview with cast members Brad Pitt and John Malkovich. And if you're still looking for more, see our collection of Burn After Reading clips.

  
  

  Posted 09/12/2008 by reelz

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | Burn After Reading | The Big Lebowski

Thursday, September 11

• Top 10 Minor Coen Brothers' Characters

  If there's one thing the Coen Brothers have been known for over the years (and there's certainly more than one) it's creating highly original, memorable characters. Whether the parts are big or small, the colorful oddballs of the Coens' world are unforgettable. From Frances McDormand's no-nonsense pregnant cop Marge Gunderson to Nicolas Cage's frazzled H.I. McDunnough to Jeff Bridges' The Dude.

  But the greatest thing about the Coens is that it's often the tiniest roles that wind up being the best, which is one of the reasons every actor in Hollywood is dying to work with them. Just ask John Turturro, Randall "Tex" Cobb, or Jon Polito.

  With the Coens' latest release Burn After Reading hitting screens this Friday, we decided to count down the Top 10 Minor Coen Brothers' Characters.

  
  

  Posted 09/11/2008 by reelz

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen

Monday, September 8

• Coen Brothers' A Serious Man Starts Production

  Production has begun today in Minnesota on Joel and Ethan Coen's next film, A Serious Man.

  The brother duo is going non-stop these days since winning the Oscar for last year's No Country for Old Men. Their latest, Burn After Reading, opens this Friday

  A Serious Man appears to be a smaller film, at least in terms of casting, when compared to the A-List heavy Burn After Reading.

  Tony-winner Michael Stuhlbarg (The Grey Zone) stars as Larry Gopnik. He's joined by Fred Melamed (Suspect), Richard Kind (The Visitor), and Minnesota actors Aaron Wolf, Sari Wagner, and Jessica McManus as Danny, Judith, and Sarah, respectively.

  The setting is 1967 and Larry Gopnik is a physics professor at a small university in the Midwest whose wife, Judith, has just left him. Attempting to explain the rest of the convoluted plot would be an exercise in futility. But as any fan of the Coens knows all too well, it isn't really the setup that's important.

  A Serious Man is slated for a 2009 release.

  
  

  Posted 09/08/2008 by reelz

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen

Thursday, July 3

• Clooney and Pitt Castmate on Coen Bros' New Burn After Reading

  After sweeping the Oscars with last year's serious No Country For Old Men, it appears the Coen brothers are back to their old comedic hijinks with Burn After Reading, about two gym employees who get their hands on a CIA agent's confidential memoirs.

  We recently got the chance to speak with Richard Jenkins (best known as the dad from Six Feet Under), who will be joining heavyweights Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand and John Malkovich in  Burn After Reading.

  "This is the description, the Coen brothers' description of my character," he told us. "I play, it says 'Ted Treffon, the soulful manager of Hardbodies Gym.' " With a character description that amusing, we can only imagine how good the movie will be.

  "It was a terrific script," Jenkins confirmed. "I haven't seen the film yet, but it was fun."

  Richard Jenkins can next be seen in Step Brothers, opening July 25.

  
  
  Next Showing: Burn After Reading hits theaters this September.

  Posted 07/03/2008 by reelz

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | Richard Jenkins | Burn After Reading

Monday, April 28

• Coens to open Venice Film Festival

  Writers/directors/brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, who won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay this year for No Country For Old Men, will be the toast of Italy at this year's Venice Film Festival.

  Their next movie, Burn After Reading, will open the film festival on August 27. Burn After Reading, which stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton is a dark spy comedy about an ex-CIA official whose memoir falls into the wrong hands.

  The Venice Film Festival runs through Sept. 6.

  
  

  Posted 04/28/2008 by reelz

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | Burn After Reading

Monday, March 3

• Burn After Release Date

  Fresh off the success of their relentlessly bleak No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers aim to lighten things up a bit with Burn After Reading, a dark comedy about a pair of bumbling gym employees who happen upon the unpublished memoirs of a former CIA agent. The new flick's impressive ensemble cast includes Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich and recent Oscar winner Tilda "Ziggy Stardust" Swinton.

  Burn After Reading arrives in theaters on September 12, 2008, less than three months after another spy comedy, Steve Carell's big-budget TV adaptation Get Smart, opens. Which one are you looking forward to the most? Discuss.

  
  

  Posted 03/03/2008 by reelz

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | Burn After Reading | No Country for Old Men

Tuesday, February 12

• Coen bros line up a new book-to-movie project

  Hotter than hot Joel and Ethan Coen--i.e., the writers/directors behind No Country For Old Men--have plans to adapt another popluar novel for film.

  The Coen brothers will be writing/directing/producing The Yiddish Policemen's Union, originally a novel by Michael Chabon (Wonder Boys).

  From the description, it sort of sounds like a Jewish/Alaskan version of Fargo, and since it's based on a Chabon novel, will likely be a return to the Coen brothers' usual funny style. We're so excited, we're schvitzing.

  Source: Variety.

  
  
  

  No Country For Old Men clip

  "Phone Call"

  Posted 02/12/2008 by reelz

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | The Yiddish Policemen's Union

Saturday, November 10

• Coen Fever!
  

  The brothers Joel and Ethan Coen are back with their latest work, No Country For Old Men, which is receiving widespread praise across the nation. Currently, No Country has a stellar 95 % rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which positions the film as one of the top-reviewed movies of 2007.
  
  ReelzChannel.com scored No Country For Old Men an 8 out of 10. You can check out our full review right here!
  
  The excitement of a new Coen movie also got us to thinking of our favorite movies from the Coen Brothers. Check out out countdown of our five favorite Coen Brotheres movies right here!
  
  
  
  
  

  Reelz Clip

  A scene from No Country For Old Men
  

  Reelz Clip

  A scene from No Country For Old Men
  

  Reelz Clip

  A scene from No Country For Old Men

  Posted 11/10/2007 by reelz

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | No Country for Old Men

Wednesday, November 7

• Sometimes the bear eats you

  The Coen brothers have been getting lots of Oscar buzz for their new movie, No Country for Old Men, which comes out on Friday. And it got us to talking about our other favorite Coen brothers movies, like the indisputable classic, The Big Lebowski.

  Well, it seems we're not the only ones talking about The Dude et al. We found this hilarious forum of non-native English speakers trying to parse the meeting of the Lebowski line 'sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you.'

  Let's just say they get law firms and Daniel Boone involved in the debate. Priceless.

  
  
  

  No Country for Old Men clip

  "Call it"

  Posted 11/07/2007 by reelz

  Related: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen | The Big Lebowski