No Country For Old Men

[Ghostboy]

The Coens are onboard the adaptation of my favorite author's most recent work: Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men.

This'll be very much in the vein of Fargo. In other words: serious.

It might be shooting in Autin - RK, get your resume out!

[modage]

i hope its redemption.  i've almost completely written them off after the last two and they are/were some of my favorite filmmakers.

[hedwig]

gb, what's the book like?

[squints]

I just visited my dying grandmother in the hospital and it's been a super shitty day/week/month...but this news just really really made my day thanks gb!

[Ghostboy]

gb, what's the book like?

It's a somewhat minor work from one of the greatest authors of the 20th Century. It's really good, and will adapt splendidly into a film. Here's the Publisher's Weekly synopsis from Amazon.com:

"Seven years after Cities of the Plain brought his acclaimed Border Trilogy to a close, McCarthy returns with a mesmerizing modern-day western. In 1980 southwest Texas, Llewelyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, stumbles across several dead men, a bunch of heroin and $2.4 million in cash. The bulk of the novel is a gripping man-on-the-run sequence relayed in terse, masterful prose as Moss, who's taken the money, tries to evade Wells, an ex–Special Forces agent employed by a powerful cartel, and Chigurh, an icy psychopathic murderer armed with a cattle gun and a dangerous philosophy of justice. Also concerned about Moss's whereabouts is Sheriff Bell, an aging lawman struggling with his sense that there's a new breed of man (embodied in Chigurh) whose destructive power he simply cannot match. In a series of thoughtful first-person passages interspersed throughout, Sheriff Bell laments the changing world, wrestles with an uncomfortable memory from his service in WWII and—a soft ray of light in a book so steeped in bloodshed—rejoices in the great good fortune of his marriage. While the action of the novel thrills, it's the sensitivity and wisdom of Sheriff Bell that makes the book a profound meditation on the battle between good and evil and the roles choice and chance play in the shaping of a life. "

That barely does it justice, though.

[MacGuffin]

Did a search to find more info:

Coens will direct "No Country for Old Men"
Source: coenbrothers.net

Chris Hewitt of the St Paul Pioneer Press and Variety are reporting that the Coen Brothers next project will be an adaptation of the recently published "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy. The August 28th article states that they will direct, not just an adaptation this time.



'Old Man' McCarthy wows with tale of life and death
Les Chappell, Daily Cardinal

*READ AT OWN RISK*

Shockingly, Cormac McCarthy is not one of the titular ´Old Men.´At first glance, there are many reasons why the directing team of Joel and Ethan Coen has decided to direct an adaptation of "No Country for Old Men," the first novel in seven years from author Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy fills "Country" with the unique characters and flowing dialogue inherent to a Coen film.

"Country's" distinctive cast includes a Vietnam veteran, a Mexican hitman and a straightforward sheriff. McCarthy infuses the text with dialogue that is instantly quotable, as well as a setting that begs for expansive camera angles.

But more than that, "No Country for Old Men" follows a key theme the Coens touched on in "Fargo"-a lot can happen in the middle of nowhere. In McCarthy's case, nowhere is his stamping ground of southern Texas and what happens is a drug deal gone bad with $2.4 million recovered among the corpses by Vietnam vet Llewelyn Moss.

After seven years, McCarthy has returned to the landscape he visited in "All the Pretty Horses," but this time his tight and natural prose is aimed at achieving pure suspense. McCarthy doesn't waste time with rambling speeches and run-on sentences. McCarthy puts the story in a lively present tense where there's no time to think before the next event occurs.

The vividness of McCarthy's style contributes greatly to his main characters, who, in the hands of a lesser writer, could be reduced to stereotypes of running man and psychopath. Moss moves across the state like a drifter, noticing nothing beyond what he needs to survive, while the pursuing hitman, Chigurh, can spend pages examining details such as the smell of milk and dust near the air vent.

Although Sheriff Bell comes in after Moss and Chigurh and spends the whole book trying to catch up with the body count, his presence somehow bears more weight than either character. Every section of the book opens with his reflections on topics such as World War II, law enforcement technology and death row. With Bell, McCarthy evokes the image of an old man smoking his pipe on the front porch explaining a long-lost tale to his grandchildren.

"Country's" dialogue can go on for pages and pages with barely any details of the outside world, and while readers may have to count lines to figure out who said what, it feels so much like movie dialogue that the Coens may not even need to rewrite.

Unfortunately, by the end of the book it's clear that the speed of bloodshed and heartache has drained Bell of his spirit, and once again McCarthy seems to share his protagonist's viewpoint. There is no great shoot-out confrontation between the main characters and McCarthy leaves many questions unresolved.

While he may be saving up material for a sequel, this sudden tired attitude throws a wrench into the book's finale.

The weak ending cannot offset the sense of satisfaction this book provides; McCarthy has brought life and death into focus better than most writers in years. He has written a story readers cannot help but finish-and with its sharp, witty language, the Coens will have a field day with "Country."

[Ghostboy]

Unfortunately, by the end of the book it's clear that the speed of bloodshed and heartache has drained Bell of his spirit, and once again McCarthy seems to share his protagonist's viewpoint. There is no great shoot-out confrontation between the main characters and McCarthy leaves many questions unresolved.

While he may be saving up material for a sequel, this sudden tired attitude throws a wrench into the book's finale.

That's a really ignorant critique; the ending is where the book's brilliance comes into its own - the narrative builds to such great heights that it can't be wrapped up in a neat and tidy confrontation. It goes from being hard boiled to being mythic.

[mutinyco]

It might be shooting in Autin -

Autin... where's that then?...

[RegularKarate]

It might be shooting in Autin -

Autin... where's that then?...

It's here, in Tekas

[SiliasRuby]

After reading the synopsis from GB I'm psyched. It should be Fantastic.

[modage]

paramount classics reads xixax and is tracking down all our directors for their next films...

Jones and Bardem in Coens' Old Men
Source: Variety February 2, 2006

Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem are in talks to star in Joel and Ethan Coen's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, reports Variety.

Shooting on the co-production of Miramax and John Lesher's Paramount-based classics division will start this May in New Mexico and Texas.

Scott Rudin is producing with Ethan Coen, who wrote the script with his director brother Joel

Set in West Texas in 1980, the story is about a young Vietnam vet who stumbles over the remnants of a drug deal gone bad. He's hunted by two extremely vicious assassins who want the money back.

[pete]

check out this month's Harper's for a really detailed defense of "no country for old men" against its harsh critics.

[modage]

Brolin Will Star in Coen's Country
Source: Variety
April 27, 2006

Joel and Ethan Coen have set Josh Brolin to join Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men, an adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel, says Variety.

Filming begins late spring. The project is a co-production between Miramax and Paramount Classics. Scott Rudin is producing with Ethan Coen. The Coens adapted the novel, which is set in West Texas in 1980.

Brolin will play a Vietnam vet who works in the Texas plains and scoops up a bundle of cash he finds at the scene of a drug deal gone bad.

Brolin just wrapped the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino film Grind House for Dimension, and moves into the Karen Moncrieff-directed indie The Dead Girl.

[polkablues]

I like Josh Brolin.  He's got a freakishly large head, which I respect in an actor.

[squints]

i thought all actors have freakishly large heads?  hooray for the Coen brothers related news! i just had a thirty minute conversation with a professor about the coens and i come home directly afterwards to read this, great day.