The Coen Brothers, Second EditionBrought completely up to date, this insightful biography remains "a must for any self-respecting Coen fan" (Screentrade). This fully updated edition of the first biography of the Coen Brothers includes their complete work so far, from Blood Simple to Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), with a reassessment of their remarkable career as a whole. Joel and Ethan Coen have pulled off the ultimate balancing act. Despite having their movies financed and distributed by major studios, they have managed to remain true independents, rejecting commercial clichés and never giving up on their own fiercely idiosyncratic vision. While doing so, they have established themselves among the world's leading filmmakers. From their startling debut, Blood Simple (1984), all of their movies reveal a distinctive stamp: a flamboyant visual style, richly conceived characters, crisp dialogue, and brilliant casting. They have revitalized old Hollywood genres such as noir, screwball, and the western, giving them a contemporary sensibility. In this biography, Ronald Bergan traces the brothers' Jewish roots, their beginnings as film geeks in suburban Minneapolis, their battle to get their first feature made and released, through their early features and the movies of their maturity. He gives blow-by-blow accounts of the making of each movie. New chapters cover all those released since O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), with which the first edition of this book ended. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 32
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... art thou also dead— dead to the World, to Heaven, and to Hope! In me didst thou exist— and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself. When the quotation above was submitted to the police ...
... art thou also dead— dead to the World, to Heaven, and to Hope! In me didst thou exist— and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself. When the quotation above was submitted to the police ...
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... Art Thou? that “They are not brothers at all, and Ethan is really a woman. Don't let the whiskers fool you!” When I first spoke to Joel, he was just about to embark on the screenplay of O Brother, Where Art Thou? with Ethan. He told me ...
... Art Thou? that “They are not brothers at all, and Ethan is really a woman. Don't let the whiskers fool you!” When I first spoke to Joel, he was just about to embark on the screenplay of O Brother, Where Art Thou? with Ethan. He told me ...
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... Art Thou? Joel and Ethan might be considered silly names by some, but they are not nearly as silly as the ones they have invented for their characters. Like one of their emulatees, Preston Sturges, they take a Dickensian delight in the ...
... Art Thou? Joel and Ethan might be considered silly names by some, but they are not nearly as silly as the ones they have invented for their characters. Like one of their emulatees, Preston Sturges, they take a Dickensian delight in the ...
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... Art Thou?. Fargo has Gaear Grimsrud and Carl Showalter. The “funny looking” Steve Buscemi, who plays Showalter, also plays Mink, a little rodent, in Miller's Crossing. However, the most emblematic of their characters' names, in the ...
... Art Thou?. Fargo has Gaear Grimsrud and Carl Showalter. The “funny looking” Steve Buscemi, who plays Showalter, also plays Mink, a little rodent, in Miller's Crossing. However, the most emblematic of their characters' names, in the ...
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... Art Thou? pretend to be black when they record a “Negro song” as the Soggy Bottom Boys for a blind record producer, and later black up to effect an escape from a chain gang. Of the two cons in Raising Arizona, the Coens remarked: “We ...
... Art Thou? pretend to be black when they record a “Negro song” as the Soggy Bottom Boys for a blind record producer, and later black up to effect an escape from a chain gang. Of the two cons in Raising Arizona, the Coens remarked: “We ...
Contents
The Brothers Geek | |
First Blood | |
Hi Stakes VI Double Crossing | |
Hollywood Nuts | |
Yah Yah | |
Cool Dudes | |
Odd Odyssey | |
James M Coen | |
Intolerable Hollywood Bowel Syndrome | |
Blood Complex | |
A Comedy of Errors | |
A Good | |
CapraCoen | |
Common terms and phrases
actor American Art Thou asked audience baby Bardem Barry Sonnenfeld Barton Fink Big Lebowski Blood Simple Brolin Burn After Reading camera Carter Burwell cast character Chigurh cinema cinematographer Coen brothers Cogburn comedy Costume Design Country For Old Director of Photography dream Dude Ethan Coen Evil Dead Fargo film noir filmmakers Frances McDormand fucking gangster genre George Clooney going Hollywood Hudsucker Proxy Inside Llewyn Davis Intolerable Cruelty Jerry Jewish Jews Joel and Ethan Joel Coen Joel’s John Goodman John Turturro kidnapped kids kill Ladykillers Larry look Marge Mary Zophres Mattie Miller’s Crossing Minneapolis movie murder Nathan Arizona never Norville novel picture played plot Production Designer Raimi Raising Arizona Raymond Chandler remake Roderick Jaynes Roger Deakins role scene screenplay script shooting shot stars Steve Buscemi story storyboard studio tell There’s thing thought True Grit what’s wife