The Coen Brothers, Second EditionSimon and Schuster, 2016 M01 5 - 360 pages Brought 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
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... movies were becoming more and more anonymous and increasingly aiming at teen audiences. Yet the Coen brothers' films ... movie to be “a new career peak.” No Country For Old Men was the first direct adaptation of a novel, after which the ...
... movies were becoming more and more anonymous and increasingly aiming at teen audiences. Yet the Coen brothers' films ... movie to be “a new career peak.” No Country For Old Men was the first direct adaptation of a novel, after which the ...
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... movie about a loser. Who wants to make a movie about Elvis?” One could say that the Coen brothers know as much about being losers as they know about riding horses. Because, whether an adaptation, a remake, or an original screenplay ...
... movie about a loser. Who wants to make a movie about Elvis?” One could say that the Coen brothers know as much about being losers as they know about riding horses. Because, whether an adaptation, a remake, or an original screenplay ...
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... movies,” Joel explained. “We take separate credits but actually do pretty much everything together. There really isn't a ... movie on the same terms. There are no fundamental disagreements of what we are dealing with since we created it ...
... movies,” Joel explained. “We take separate credits but actually do pretty much everything together. There really isn't a ... movie on the same terms. There are no fundamental disagreements of what we are dealing with since we created it ...
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... movie geek that you might expect.” According to William Preston Robertson: “Joel is lanky, darkhaired and pony-tailed. In his more pensive moments, he will sit slouched in a chair with an expression that resembles an Afghan catching the ...
... movie geek that you might expect.” According to William Preston Robertson: “Joel is lanky, darkhaired and pony-tailed. In his more pensive moments, he will sit slouched in a chair with an expression that resembles an Afghan catching the ...
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... movies.” “Joel refuses to go to sentimental movies with me because my weeping embarrasses him. But don't tell anyone in the press.” It obviously amuses the brothers to express some disunity, but it is the sort of badinage they resort to ...
... movies.” “Joel refuses to go to sentimental movies with me because my weeping embarrasses him. But don't tell anyone in the press.” It obviously amuses the brothers to express some disunity, but it is the sort of badinage they resort to ...
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 | |
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