Joel Coen
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After the Curtain: The Tragedy of Macbeth Production Designer Stefan Dechant
Shot by director of photography Bruno Delbonnel in stark black and white using the Academy aspect ratio, Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth is an impressively lean (105 minutes total runtime) and stylized take. A reserved Denzel Washington stars in the title role alongside Coen’s wife Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth, reprising a performance she gave for the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2016. In his first film without his brother Ethan, Coen eschews halfhearted attempts to “open up the text,” instead choosing to embrace its theatricality by filming the entire production on Warner Brothers’s soundstages in Burbank, California before and, […]
by Erik Luers on Jan 18, 2022 -
Back to One, Episode 175: Bertie Carvel
He already had an Olivier Award for his amazing performance as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda when Bertie Carvel made his Broadway debut in that unforgettable role. He went on to win a Tony the next time he stepped on the New York stage, playing a young Rupert Murdoch in Ink. Notable recent television credits include the BBC series Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Doctor Foster, and in November he stars in Dalgliesh on Acorn TV. In this hour, I get him to reflect objectively about his process and philosophically about acting in general. He talks about why collaboration (or even […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Oct 26, 2021 -
“This Was Like Designing for Six Different Leads and Six Different Backgrounds”: Costume Designer Mary Zophres on The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Joel and Ethan Coen have been making films for over 30 years now and, since the mid-1990s, costume designer Mary Zophres has been a key part of creating their distinct aesthetic worlds. Working consistently with the fraternal directing team, Zophres has provided some iconic looks, among them the puffy jackets of Fargo (1996), The Dude’s sweater and bathrobe in The Big Lebowski (1997), and the prison garb of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), to name just a few. The designer’s resume also includes the delightfully quirky and punkish costumes of Ghost World (2001), which have inspired countless young women, […]
by Abbey Bender on Jan 15, 2019 -
Watch: Critic Adam Nayman Discusses the Circularity of the Coen Brothers’ Films
The critic Adam Nayman has a new book out, with the self-explanatory title The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together. It’s one of those large Abrams doorstops, like Matt Zoller Seitz’s books on Wes Anderson and Oliver Stone — filled with glossy, well-chosen pictures as well as thoughtful, eloquent analysis that more than justifies their literal heavy-osity. Nayman has now taken part in a new video for TIFF, where he focuses in on one of the themes running throughout his film-by-film essays: the notion of circularity in the films of Joel and Ethan Coen. Nayman starts with […]
by Matt Prigge on Nov 19, 2018 -
Watch: The Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple Pitch Trailer
Blood Simple, the Coen brothers’ first film, is being released on DVD and Blu-Ray in September through the Criterion Collection. The teaser trailer that the two made to sell to investors has now surfaced online for the first time with the impending release of the restored 4k digital transfer. Joel and Ethan ultimately raised $550,000 towards the film that sparked their careers. Starting July 1 Blood Simple will also play in select theaters in collaboration with Janus Films in advance of the physical release.
by Marc Nemcik on Jun 27, 2016 -
Joel and Ethan Coen Discuss How Their Editing has Evolved Over Thirty Years
“I think it’s absurd to say there isn’t a difference” between shooting on film and on digital, says Joel Coen in this short interview found on Adobe Create and filmed in the cutting room of the Coen Brothers’ latest, Hail, Caesar! Coen goes on to say that he hopes for a kind of format-neutral future, where choices of all sorts can be made on purely artistic grounds. That said, neither filmmaker is naive, and they realize that digital technology provides the new standards. As Ethan goes on to say, one of the reasons they finally began cutting on a digital […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 16, 2016 -
U.S. DIRECTORS CALL FOR JAFAR PANAHI’S RELEASE
A powerful statement from U.S. directors calling for the release of director Jafar Panahi from prison in Iran has been issued. I’ll let the petition speak for itself, but kudos to the organizers for taking action and assembling this illustrious group. New York, NY (April 30, 2010) – Jafar Panahi, an internationally acclaimed Iranian director of such award-winning films as The White Balloon, The Circle, Crimson Gold and Offside, was arrested at his home on March 1st and has been held since in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. A number of filmmaking luminaries have come to Mr. Panahi’s defense and “condemn […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 1, 2010 -
John Turturro, Romance & Cigarettes
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN IN JOHN TURTURRO’S ROMANCE & CIGARETTES. COURTESY UNITED ARTISTS. John Turturro has the distinction of being both a director’s actor and an actor’s director. A favorite of both Spike Lee and the Coen brothers, over the past 20 years Turturro has marked himself out as one of the most interesting and talented actors in film, and whether it is a blocked writer (Barton Fink), a socially-awkward chess master (The Luzhin Defense) or a grief-stricken widower (Fear X), he adds a depth and humanity to the characters he inhabits. In 1992, he directed his first film, Mac, about three […]
by Nick Dawson on Sep 7, 2007
