A Serious Man

[modage]

The Coens Will Write and Direct 'A Serious Man'
Source: Cinematical

Looks like the Joel and Ethan Coen (ever wonder why Joel's name always comes first?) have decided to get serious for Focus Features and Working Title, the shingle that previously helped produce Coen flicks like Fargo, The Hudsucker Proxy and The Big Lebowski, among others. Following news that Brad Pitt is set to star alongside George Clooney and Frances McDormand in Burn After Reading, comes word from Variety that the Coen's will follow up that pic with one called A Serious Man. Described as a "dark comedy in the vein of Fargo," both Ethan and Joel intend on being credited as writers, producers and directors on the two films.

Seeing as A Serious Man is slated to be a serious dark comedy, one has to assume that Burn After Reading will go a different route. That film is said to revolve around a CIA agent who loses the computer disk in which his (or her) tell-all book is stored. In the Variety article, they mention that Brad Pitt will play a trainer at a gym (did we know that already?), while rumors suggest Clooney will play a killer of some sorts, and not the strikingly-handsome protagonist. Hmm, do you think McDormand will play the CIA agent? Or have the Coen's not decided on a star (ahem, Billy Bob) yet? And, with nothing else lined up after Burn, me wonders whether McDormand will sign up for back-to-back Coen flicks; perhaps she'll take on another Fargo-like role and win a second Oscar. These are good times for all you Coen fanatics out there; aside from the aforementioned two films, their latest, No Country for Old Men, will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month, before arriving in theaters later this fall.

[MacGuffin]

Coens ready for 'Man,' 'Burn'
Brothers pact with Focus, Working Title
Source: Variety

Joel and Ethan Coen have set "A Serious Man" -- a dark comedy in the vein of "Fargo" -- with Focus Features and Working Title.

Both brothers are slated to be credited as writers, producers and directors.

"Serious Man" is the second of a two-pic pact the brothers made with Focus and Working Title. It will follow "Burn After Reading," set to start shooting this summer. Brad Pitt recently joined George Clooney and Frances McDormand in that pic.

Plot details on both films are under wraps.

The Coens are wrapping post work on Cannes entry "No Country for Old Men" for Miramax and Paramount Vantage.

Working Title's Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will exec produce the two films. Past Coen pics at the company include "Fargo," "The Hudsucker Proxy," "The Big Lebowski," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and "The Man Who Wasn't There."

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Coens, Focus, Working Title getting 'Serious'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

NEW YORK -- Indie mavericks Joel and Ethan Coen will write, produce and direct the dark comedy "A Serious Man," the second announced film in a two-picture pact with Focus Features and Working Title Films.

The first feature in the deal is the spy comedy "Burn After Reading," starring Brad Pitt and longtime Coen brothers collaborators George Clooney and Frances McDormand.

Production is set to begin in late summer, with "Serious" slated to be the Coens' next film for the companies, Focus CEO James Schamus and Working Title co-chairs Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner said.

Bevan and Fellner will serve as executive producers on both projects.

McDormand, wife of Joel Coen, won an Oscar in 1996 for the brothers' quirky crime comedy "Fargo."

The Coens are completing postproduction on their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel "No Country for Old Men," which is slated to premiere next month at the Festival de Cannes.

[MacGuffin]

Coen Brothers to get "Serious" in April
Source: FilmJerk

"A Serious Man," one of the pre-strike priorities for Focus Features, will begin lensing in Minneapolis in April.

Little news has come out about the next next next Coen Brothers film (the next being their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men," in theatres this November, and their next next being their currently filming "Burn After Reading" with Brad Pitt and George Clooney) since the film was first announced back in April.

"A Serious Man" will focus on Larry Gopnik, a Jewish college professor in the Midwest during the 1960s. Larry starts to question the value of life when he discovers his wife wants a divorce (she is also probably getting it on with one of the neighbors). He also has trouble with his children stealing money out of his wallet (his son is buying weed, while his daughter is saving for plastic surgery) and his deadbeat brother, who has moved in because he neither has the cash nor the maturity to live on his own. Add to that the hostile anonymous notes he keeps receiving which threaten his tenure at school, the grad student who will get a passing grade from Larry by any means necessary (who may or may not be the person leaving the threatening letters) and the hot neighbor who bedevils Larry with her nude sunbathing, and there is little wonder why Larry seeks to solve his existential issues from men of God whom he hopes will help him to become an austere and devoted man.

It is not known who may star as Larry or the members of his family, but there are places where we could see some familiar Coen Brother collaborators. John Goodman could be a good fit for the next door neighbor Gar Brandt, although with Gar's buzzcut, he might remind people too much of the much beloved Walter Sobchak. And why not Frances McDormand for Mimi, the friend of Larry's who helps her friend to visit the wise old men.

Focus Features is expected to release the film in the early months of 2009.

[Pubrick]

this sounds great. (note the different plot synopses in first and last posts, i'm basing my optimism on mac's latest update)

curse-lift pending.


edit: didn't notice the story described in the first post is actually Burn After Reading.

curse-lift looking good.

[MacGuffin]

Home Again: Coens Filming in Minnesota

Will the Coen brothers ever return to their native Minnesota to film another movie? Yeah sure, you betcha! Joel and Ethan Coen haven't made a movie in Minnesota since their 1996 Oscar-winning "Fargo," but come March they plan to roll cameras for "A Serious Man," set in their home town of St. Louis Park, a Minneapolis suburb.

The brothers helped scout locations this summer, said Lucinda Winter, executive director of the Minnesota Film and TV Board.

"They looked in Richfield, Brooklyn Center, maybe Hopkins neighborhoods that would match the one they grew up in," she said.

The film is about a Jewish college professor during the 1960s. According to the online entertainment journal FilmJerk.com, the main character is bedeviled by children who lift his wallet, a wife who wants a divorce, an intense grad student and a hot neighbor who sunbathes in the nude. With all of that, "he starts to question the value of life."

It's not autobiographical but is based on the Coen brothers' experiences here, said Bob Graf, one of the film's executive producers and also a native Minnesotan.

Graf said it's important to capture the uniqueness of Twin Cities suburbs.

"It's just plain different," Graf said Friday from New York.

[MacGuffin]

Coen brothers cast 'Serious' men
Stuhlbarg, Kind set for period black comedy
Source: Variety

The Coen brothers have tapped a pair of relative unknowns to star in their next pic, "A Serious Man."

Michael Stuhlbarg, a Tony-nominated actor with little experience in front of the cameras, and Richard Kind, a character actor best known for his role on ABC's "Spin City," will star as brothers in the period black comedy.

Set in 1967, story centers on Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg), a Midwestern professor whose life begins to unravel when his wife sets out to leave him and his socially inept brother (Kind) won't move out of the house.

Shooting is set to start at the beginning of next month in Minneapolis.

Working Title is producing, and Focus Features will distribute.

Joel and Ethan Coen, whose George Clooney-Brad Pitt starrer "Burn After Reading" will open next month, penned the screenplay for "A Serious Man" and are sharing producing duties. Working Title's Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner exec produce.

Stuhlbarg, who has made guest appearances on "Law & Order" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," was nominated for a Tony for his role in "The Pillowman" and starred in the title role of this summer's Shakespeare in the Park production of "Hamlet."

He is repped by manager Lisa Loosemoore.

Kind's credits include "For Your Consideration," "The Station Agent" and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and the TV series "Mad About You."

[theyarelegion]

I have a draft of the script. PM me if you want it.

[MacGuffin]

Production Begins on the Coens' A Serious Man
Source: Focus Features

Production began on Monday on location in Minnesota on A Serious Man, for Focus Features and Working Title Films. Joel and Ethan Coen, Academy Award winners for No Country for Old Men and Fargo, are writing, producing, and directing the film. Working Title co-chairs Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are executive-producing the film with Robert Graf, who has worked on the Coens' last six features in various producing capacities.

The director of photography on A Serious Man is seven-time Academy Award nominee Roger Deakins, who is marking his tenth feature collaboration with the Coens. Mary Zophres is the film's costume designer, marking her ninth feature collaboration with the Coens. Jess Gonchor is the production designer, marking his third feature collaboration with the Coens.

A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy Ableman, who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry's unemployable brother Arthur is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a serious man?

Tony Award nominee Michael Stuhlbarg (whose films include The Grey Zone) stars as Larry; Fred Melamed (Suspect) plays Sy; Richard Kind (The Visitor) portrays Arthur; and Minnesota actors Aaron Wolf, Sari Wagner, and Jessica McManus are cast as Danny, Judith, and Sarah, respectively.

The Coens' comedy thriller Burn After Reading, also from Focus Features and Working Title Films, world-premiered last month as the opening-night film of the 2008 Venice International Film Festival; made its North American premiere last week at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival; and will be released by Focus nationwide on Friday, September 12th. The film stars George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, and Brad Pitt.

[New Feeling]

A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy Ableman, who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry's unemployable brother Arthur is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a serious man?

now that's a synopsis

[MacGuffin]

Adam Arkin cast in 'Serious Man'
'Life' actor boards Coen bros' dark comedy
Source: Variety

Adam Arkin has joined "A Serious Man," the film that Joel and Ethan Coen are shooting in Minnesota for Focus Features and Working Title Films.

Arkin, who's a series regular on NBC's "Life," joins Michael Stuhlbarg and Richard Kind, who play brothers in the black comedy, which takes place in 1967.

Arkin's repped by ICM and Principal Entertainment.

The Coens wrote the script and produce. Working Title's Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are exec producers.

[modage]

Academy Award-winning writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen's A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry's unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny (Aaron Wolf) is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a serious man? Filmed on location in Minnesota for Focus and Working Title Films, A Serious Man will open in limited release on October 2nd.

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http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/aseriousman/

looks great.  don't fuck this up coens.

[pete]

is that an elmore leonard lookalike or do a lot of people look like that?

[Gold Trumpet]

Finally, I'm intrigued by a Coen brother film instead of feeling the need to see them to just keep tabs. Burn After Reading was a major development because the mishaps in the story had a thought process on their way to intelligibility. In most previous Coen comedies, I noticed their personality quirks being the biggest determiner to the mishaps. Burn After Reading wasn't funny, but was a good comedy. A Serious Man could be decent.

[matt35mm]

Neat trailer.