Just last light, the first trailer of the multiple Oscar-winning Coen brothers' newest outing Hail, Caesar! (2016) was released and the film blogosphere went abuzz with excitement. Hail, Caesar's IMDb synopsis reads: A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio's stars in line.
You see, Joel and Ethan are the most critically acclaimed directorial pairing in the history of cinema. And it's not just out of critical whim; ever since their debut in 1984's Blood Simple (Ethan Coen was uncredited until The Ladykillers in 2004), both showed that rare combination of intelligent, thoughtfulness, dark comedy, and classy style. When they give you something funny, it's funny. When they give you something dark, it's dark. However, a lot of their films are also equal parts dark, funny, philosophical, meta plus they never fail to entertain. The Coen brothers are true disciples of the cinema and two of the best artists the moviemaking industry has seen. And they have never made a bad film.
And in one of the most star-studded casting coup by the always dependable filmmakers, we have (in alphabetical order): Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Channing Tatum. Brolin (3rd time), Clooney (4th time), Johansson (2nd), McDormand (Coen's wife, 7th), and Swinton (2nd) are old Coen collabs while Fiennes, Hill, and Tatum are a welcome addition to the future arsenal of great actors the brothers can depend on.
Casting the right actors for the right parts has been one of the best assets of the Coens, in addition to their excellent directorial, writing, and editing skills. Some of their classics have been helped by actors who elevated the characters into iconic performances. Frances McDormand in Fargo (1996)? Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski (1998)? The trio of Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, and the scary Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men (2007)? Or how about that other star-studded comedy Burn After Reading (2008) which gave us Brad Pitt's most unhinged characterization? And the star-making turn of Hailee Steinfeld (ably supported by Bridges' better-than-John-Wayne's perf) in the 2010 remake of True Grit?
Other films of the Coen brothers include comedy Raising Arizona (1987) starring Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter; crime noir Miller's Crossing (1990) with John Turturro, Marcia Gay Harden, and Albert Finney; period Barton Fink (1991) with John Turturro, John Goodman, and Judy Davis; screwball The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) starring Tim Robbins, Paul Newman, and Jennifer Jason Leigh; adventure comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) with George Clooney, Holly Hunter, and John Goodman; neo-noir crime drama The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) strarring Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, and Scarlett Johansson; romcom Intolerable Cruelty (2003) with George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Geoffrey Rush; black comedy A Serious Man (2009) with Michael Stuhlbarg, and the music drama Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, and John Goodman. They also wrote the screenplay for Angelina Jolie's Unbroken (2014) and this year's Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies (2015).
Hail, Caesar! (2016) will be released in the US on 5 February 2016.
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