Ethan and Joel Coen

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Ethan Coen (left) and Joel Coen at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival

The brothers Joel David Coen (* 29. November 1954 in Minneapolis , Minnesota , United States ) and Ethan Jesse Coen (* 21st September 1957 ibid), also known as the Coen brothers (Engl. Coen Brothers ), are Oscar-winning US American film directors , screenwriters , film producers and film editors .

They first made a name for themselves in 1984 at the US Sundance Film Festival with Blood Simple , a homage to film noir , which won the main prize . Barton Fink received the Palme d'Or and director and actor award in Cannes. Since then they have established themselves with films such as Fargo , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? , No Country for Old Men or Inside Llewyn Davis as weird storytellers away from the Hollywood mainstream.

Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand since 1984 , and Ethan to film editor Tricia Cooke since 1990 .

life and work

The Coen brothers grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in St. Louis Park , a suburb of Minneapolis. Her parents, Edward and Rena Coen, were professors: he was professor of economics at the University of Minnesota , she was professor of art history at St. Cloud University . The milieu of such Jewish-American families is the theme of the 2009 film A Serious Man .

As a child, Joel Coen saved the money for a Super 8 camera by mowing the lawn . The two brothers used it to shoot films from television together with a boy from the neighborhood (Mark Zimering, called "Zeimers" in the films) .

After graduating from Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Joel took part in a public film program at New York University , where he made a thirty-minute film called Soundings for his thesis . After graduating from Simon's Rock College like his brother, Ethan went to Princeton University , where he studied philosophy . His thesis was entitled "Two Views of Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy" ( "Two views on Wittgenstein's philosophical late work").

After graduating from the University of New York , Joel worked as a production assistant on a number of films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met director Sam Raimi , who was looking for an assistant for his film The Evil Dead . Together with Sam Raimi, the two Coen brothers wrote the script for the black-humored comedy Crimewave - Die Killer-Akademie in 1985, a bizarre story about a prisoner sentenced to death, in which actor Bruce Campbell , known from the dance of the devils -Horror films by Raimi, both played a supporting role and was a producer. At the box office, however, the slapstick film was a flop.

Ethan Coen published numerous short stories, first in magazines such as The New Yorker , Playboy , and Vanity Fair , and later in the short story book "The Gates of Eden" (Eng. "Trap door to Paradise").

In 2010, the Coen brothers completed a film adaptation of the western novel of the same name, True Grit, starring Jeff Bridges , Matt Damon and Josh Brolin , which opened the 2011 Berlinale on February 10, 2011 .

The film Inside Llewyn Davis, starring Oscar Isaac , Carey Mulligan and John Goodman, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2013 .

On February 1, 2016, Hail, Caesar! its premiere in Los Angeles. In the comedy film Josh Brolin takes on the role of film producer and Hollywood studio manager Eddie Mannix . The film, starring George Clooney , Alden Ehrenreich , Ralph Fiennes , Jonah Hill , Scarlett Johansson , Frances McDormand , Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum , was also selected as the opening film of the 66th Berlin International Film Festival .

In 2016, three of her films ( No Country for Old Men , A Serious Man , Inside Llewyn Davis ) were selected for the BBC's 100 Most Important Films of the 21st Century .

Repeated collaboration

The brothers each work together to write the scripts for their films, direct and take part in the production. They are also active as film editors on most of their projects under the pseudonym "Roderick Jaynes".

The auteur filmmakers usually work with thirteen-time (as of 2018) Oscar-nominated and two-time award-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins , the music is mostly written by Carter Burwell . When it comes to sound design, you always work with Peter F. Kurland .

Ethan and Joel have also worked with several actors several times:

  • Steve Buscemi (Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Hudsucker - The Big Jump, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Paris, je t'aime)
  • George Clooney (O Brother, Where Art Thou ?, An (im) possible case of hardship, Burn After Reading - Who burns their fingers here ?, Hail, Caesar!)
  • John Goodman (Arizona Junior, Barton Fink, Hudsucker - The Big Jump, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou ?, Inside Llewyn Davis)
  • Richard Jenkins (The Man Who Wasn't There, An (im) possible hardship case, Burn After Reading - Who is burning their fingers here?)
  • Frances McDormand (Blood Simple, Arizona Junior, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Man Who Wasn't There, Burn After Reading - Who's Burning Your Fingers Here ?, Hail, Caesar!)
  • Jon Polito (Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Hudsucker - The Big Jump, The Big Lebowski, The Man Who Wasn't There)
  • John Turturro (Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?)
  • Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men, True Grit, Hail, Caesar!)
  • Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, True Grit)
  • Billy Bob Thornton (The Man Who Wasn't There, Ein (im) Possible Hardship, Fargo (series))
  • Scarlett Johansson (The Man Who Wasn't There, Hail, Caesar!)
  • Peter Stormare (Fargo, The Big Lebowski)
  • Tilda Swinton (Burn after Reading - Who is burning their fingers here ?, Hail, Caesar!)
  • JK Simmons (Ladykillers, Burn After Reading)

Filmography

Box office earnings, IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes user ratings of Coen films through 2010
as executive producers
as screenwriters

Awards

Academy Award

  • 1997: Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Fargo)
  • 2008: Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay (No Country for Old Men)
  • 2008: Oscar for Best Director (No Country for Old Men)
  • 2008: Oscar for Best Picture (No Country for Old Men)
Nominations
  • 1997: Oscar nomination for Best Picture (Fargo, Ethan Coen only)
  • 1997: Oscar nomination for Best Director (Fargo, Joel Coen only)
  • 1997: Oscar nomination for Best Editing (Fargo)
  • 2001: Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (O Brother, Where Art Thou?)
  • 2008: Oscar nomination for Best Editing (No Country for Old Men)
  • 2010: Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay (A Serious Man)
  • 2010: Oscar nomination for Best Picture (A Serious Man)
  • 2011: Oscar nomination for Best Picture (True Grit)
  • 2011: Oscar nomination for Best Director (True Grit)
  • 2011: Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (True Grit)
  • 2016: Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay (Bridge of Spies)
  • 2019: Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)

Golden Globe Award

  • 2008: Golden Globe for Best Screenplay (No Country for Old Men)
Nominations
  • 1997: Globe nomination for Best Film / Comedy or Musical (Fargo, Ethan Coen only)
  • 1997: Globe nomination for Best Screenplay (Fargo)
  • 1997: Globe nomination for Best Director (Fargo, Joel Coen only)
  • 2002: Globe nomination for Best Screenplay (The Man Who Wasn't There)
  • 2002: Globe nomination for Best Film / Drama (The Man Who Wasn't There)
  • 2008: Globe nomination for Best Film / Drama (No Country for Old Men)
  • 2008: Globe nomination for Best Director (No Country for Old Men)

Cannes International Film Festival

  • 1991: Golden Palm for Best Film (Barton Fink)
  • 1991: Best Director (Barton Fink, Joel Coen only)
  • 1996: Best Director (Fargo, Joel Coen only)

Chlotrudis Awards

  • 1997: Chlotrudis Award for best director (Fargo)
Nominations
  • 2008: Chlotrudis Award nomination for best director (No Country for Old Men)

Further awards

literature

  • Stephanie Blum, Dominik Schmitt (eds.): "Sorry, you just got Coened": The postmodern cinema of the Coen Brothers. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2015, ISBN 3-8260-5394-X .
  • Peter Körte, Georg Seeßlen (eds.): Joel & Ethan Coen. Bertz + Fischer Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-929470-98-5 .
  • Eddie Robson: Coen Brothers. Virgin Books Ltd., London 2003, ISBN 0-7535-0797-8 .
  • Peter Bär & Gerhard Schneider (Ed.): The Coen Brothers . Psychosozial, Giessen 2014. ISBN 978-3-8379-2373-5 (= In Dialogue: Psychoanalysis and Film Theory, ISSN  2367-2412 , Vol. 11).

Web links

Commons : Ethan and Joel Coen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jim Ridley: Meet the Third Coen Brother. NashvilleScene.com, December 12, 2013, accessed January 5, 2016 .
  2. ^ The Coen Brothers, 2011 Laureates at dandavidprize.org; accessed on December 16, 2015