Hail, Caesar!
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Hail, Caesar! |
| Original title | Hail, Caesar! |
 | |
| Country of production |
United States , United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2016 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 0 JMK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Joel Coen, Ethan Coen |
| script | Joel Coen, Ethan Coen |
| production | Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Tim Bevan , Eric Fellner |
| music | Carter Burwell |
| camera | Roger Deakins |
| cut | " Roderick Jaynes " |
| occupation | |
| |
Hail, Caesar! is an American-British film comedy from the year 2016 . The film was directed and based on the script by Ethan and Joel Coen , who also acted as film editors and producers . The star cast consists of Josh Brolin , George Clooney , Alden Ehrenreich , Ralph Fiennes , Jonah Hill , Scarlett Johansson , Frances McDormand , Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum .
Set in the 1950s, the film loosely follows the story of Eddie Mannix , a Hollywood production manager, who tries to find out what happened to a film's missing lead actor.
Hail, Caesar! premiered in Los Angeles on February 1, 2016. It was released in American cinemas on February 5, 2016 and in German cinemas on February 18, 2016. In addition, on February 11, 2016, the film opened the 66th Berlin International Film Festival out of competition .
action
Eddie Mannix worked in the fifties as a “fixer” for “Capitol Pictures” in the film capital Hollywood . Its job is to move problems aside and keep them out of the press. The pressure on Mannix is great: “Capitol Pictures” is shooting several cost-intensive productions at the same time, adverse circumstances such as renegade stars, incompetent actors or pouring rain on the outside location are not uncommon, the gossip press is waiting for the next scandal to come. In the meantime, the aviation company Lockheed Corporation tried several times to poach Mannix and offered him a lucrative leadership position instead of continuing to work for "this circus".
The current main production of “Capitol Pictures” is “Hail, Caesar!” - a monumental film adaptation of the story of Jesus in ancient Rome. Baird Whitlock, the studio's biggest star, stars. While filming, Whitlock is drugged and kidnapped by two extras. Mannix suspects Whitlock's disappearance to be one of his usual booze tours, but a little later he receives a ransom demand of $ 100,000, which he is supposed to deposit in the anteroom of the set of "No Dames!", A sailor musical production with Burt Gurney. Meanwhile, Whitlock finds himself surrounded by communist scriptwriters in a house by the sea. Your spokesman is Professor Marcuse , who eloquently explains the mechanisms of capitalism and Hollywood. They call themselves “The Future” and understand the ransom extortion to compensate for the poor payment of their scripts for commercially successful films.
At the same time, the young western star Hobie Doyle is cast in the new epoch drama "Merrily We Dance" by director Laurence Laurentz to expand his image. Doyle, not used to speaking in front of the camera, brings Laurentz to the edge of despair during the shoot. Furious, he complains to Mannix that his reputation as a director of quality films is in danger. Mannix insists on the cast, however. In a conversation with Doyle, Mannix shows him the ransom suitcase and tells him about Whitlock's kidnapping. A little later Doyle recognizes the suitcase at an evening event and follows its owner. The path leads him to the communist house, where he finds Whitlock alone. It turns out that Burt Gurney, the star of the sailor musical, was part of the communist circle who kidnapped Whitlock. Meanwhile, they bring Gurney on a nightly voyage across the sea to a Soviet submarine to go to Moscow, with the ransom to invest in a good cause. When Gurney turns around at the railing to say goodbye, his dog, named Engels, jumps into his arms. Gurney drops the ransom suitcase and it sinks into the sea.
The twin sisters Thora and Thessaly Thacker, competing gossip reporters, meanwhile increasingly press Mannix to reveal new information about Baird Whitlock. Thora finally threatens to report in her next column that Whitlock only got his first leading role because he slept with the director Laurentz. Mannix, however, can learn that Burt Gurney is Thora's source. He tells Thora that Gurney is a communist and can dissuade her from the publication because she could be blamed for the connection.
Whitlock is back in the studios thanks to Doyle and enthusiastically tells Mannix about his newfound communist beliefs. As he is about to expose the capitalist exploitation by the film studio, Mannix is furious. He suddenly interrupts Whitlock, slaps him several times and, furiously, instructs him to finally finish his work on "Hail, Caesar!" Whitlock shoots the last scene of the production in which he gives a brilliant final monologue in view of the divine apparition. Everything is going very well, the entire crew seems to be moved by Whitlock's speech until he has a dropout shortly before the end. The scene has to be repeated. However, everyone agrees that it will be very good.
For Mannix, the problem that threatened the studio with the illegitimate child of the starlet DeeAnna Moran is finally resolved. Mannix had hired Joseph Silverman to take care of the child so that Moran could later officially adopt it. As Mannix learns, this is no longer necessary, as the two decided head over heels to get married after their first announcement by Mannix. In the end, Mannix declines the Lockheed Corporation's offer and decides to continue his work for Hollywood.
background
The Coen brothers first had the idea for this film in July 2004. Originally, the project at the time, entitled Hail, Caesar! about a group of actors in the 1920s staging a play about the Roman Empire . George Clooney was already scheduled for the lead role .
During a 2013 interview on her film Inside Llewyn Davis , Joel Coen announced that they were working on Hail, Caesar! run and that it will be the next big project of the brothers. However, the film story was moved from the 1920s to the 1950s.
Filming began on November 10, 2014 in Los Angeles . The filming took place mainly in the Lot Studios in West Hollywood , additionally in the Los Angeles City Hall and the Los Angeles Theater . Some scenes were shot in the city of Pasadena .
The film premiere was on February 1, 2016 at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles. In the United States, the film was released on February 5, 2016. After that, Hail, Caesar! Out of competition, the 66th International Film Festival in Berlin on February 11, 2016 and was shown in cinemas across Germany on February 18, 2016.
Allusions
The film is set in the early 1950s, when the classic studio system of the "Golden Era of Hollywood" slowly collapsed and the emerging television was in competition. Hollywood's answer to television was lavishly produced monumental films such as The Ten Commandments , Ben Hur or Cleopatra - similar to the fictional Hail, Caesar featured in this film ! . The shown opening sequence of the Roman film, in which the legions return to Rome, is strongly based on the opening scene of the 1951 period film "Quo Vadis?" The character of Baird Whitlock is reminiscent of film stars of the time such as Kirk Douglas or Robert Taylor . The character of Hobie Doyle is based on the occasionally popular "singing cowboys" such as Roy Rogers , Gene Autry and Kirby Grant . The name of the foreign film star Carlotta Valdez is a reference to a figure mentioned in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo .
The communist scriptwriters are an allusion to the Hollywood Ten , their leader is named Professor Marcuse .
The main character of the studio manager Eddie Mannix is historical, but was implemented in a strongly fictionalized form. The twin sisters Thora and Thessaly Thacker are reminiscent of the gossip reporters Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons , who wrote for an audience of millions in the 1950s and were hostile to each other. The character of DeeAnna Moran resembles the former swimmer Esther Williams , who made a number of successful musical films with swimming interludes from the 1940s. In the film, DeeAnna is said to later adopt her own illegitimate child again so that the scandal does not get to the press. In fact, Loretta Young had an illegitimate child with Clark Gable while filming: The daughter Judy Lewis , born in 1935, was first given into foster families before she returned to her mother at the age of two. It was reported in the press that Young had "adopted" the girl.
criticism
The film received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes , he holds a rating of 80% based on 168 reviews and an average rating of 7.1 / 10. On Metacritic , Hail, Caesar! a metascore of 72/100 based on 50 reviews.
David Steinitz calls the film on Süddeutsche.de “a furious bow to old Hollywood” and at the same time a “cynical parody of the manners in the film business at the time”, which created certain images for his actors and directors, which could not be endangered under any circumstances Studios dictated which films they made and were significantly involved in their private lives. “The attention to detail with which the Coen brothers resurrected this megalomaniac phase of American cinema is really fascinating,” says Steinitz. "Every important Hollywood genre of that time is a monument: the tough western, the over-the-top musical à la Busby Berkeley , the spectacular sandal film including the apparition of Jesus." Eddie Mannix, played by Josh Brolin, is a "typically manic Coen figure", the director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) meanwhile “a loving parody” of European exiles who “tried to keep their artistic integrity halfway in the tough American studio system”. Tilda Swinton meets the audience in a “splendid double role”.
For Wenke Husmann ( Zeit Online ) is Hail, Caesar! "Not nearly as finely chiselled as Inside Llewyn Davis or even Barton Fink were, although somehow they also had the conflict between art and commerce on the subject." Nevertheless, Husmann recognizes elements from other Coen films, for example the “typical Coen character” by Eddie Mannix, who despite exertion and good conditions has no control over her life, and the message for the viewer “All striving is pointless, never will we master the parameters that determine our life. So we'd better laugh about it ”. Husmann also rates the work on the detail positively: "Before that we are served actors and scenes that are as accurately and appetizingly arranged as the toasts that Whitlock is served with tea after his kidnapping in the Communist villa". The imagery of the Coen brothers is reminiscent of “cartoons of this era” from the 1950s. “So every detail is great. The Coens' love for film also includes slapstick. "
From the German film and media rating , Hail, Caesar! given the predicate particularly valuable . The explanation says: “'Hail, Caesar!' is an intense and monumental declaration of love to classic Hollywood cinema with all its pitfalls, staged in an original and detailed manner by the proven Coen team. Roger Deakins delivers flawlessly choreographed compositions, the actors shine in sometimes satirically exaggerated roles, which, however, never lose interest in the characters. "
Awards (selection)
Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh were nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Production Design for their work in 2017 . They were nominated in the same category at the British Academy Film Awards 2017 .
Trivia
- The film shot in the film is supposed to take place in the Roman Empire at the time of Christ. However, the term "Palestine" is used in the film. At the time of Christ, however, the Roman provinces and kingdoms of Judea, Idumea, Samaria, Galilee, Perea, Batanea etc. were located on the territory of today's Israel. It was not until the 2nd century that some of these areas were amalgamated to form the new Roman province “Palestine”.
- The Lockheed employee gives Mannix a model airplane for his son. However, the aircraft shown is not a Lockheed type, but a Grumman Albatross .
- For the first time since Highlander - There Can Only Be One (1986), Christopher Lambert and Clancy Brown (the Highlander and his greatest adversary) played together again in a film, albeit in minor supporting roles.
Web links
- Hail, Caesar! in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Hail, Caesar! atRotten Tomatoes(English)
- Official page for the film
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Release for Hail, Caesar! Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).
- ↑ Age rating for Hail, Caesar! Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ Gabe Toro: As 'The Dark Tower' Crumbles, Here Are 10 Dead Projects In Search Of Resurrection ( English ) Indiewire. July 21, 2011. Archived from the original on August 4, 2014. Retrieved on August 4, 2014.
- ^ Anne Thompson: 'Inside Llewyn Davis' Secrets and a New Coens Movie Revealed: Q & A (VIDEO) ( English ) Indiewire. December 11, 2013. Archived from the original on August 4, 2014. Retrieved on August 4, 2014.
- ↑ Leo Barraclough: Coen Brothers' 'Hail, Caesar!' to Start Shooting Monday (English) . In: Variety , November 7, 2014. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
- ↑ Carly Mallenbaum: 'Hail, Caesar!': 5 things we learned at the premiere ( English ) February 2, 2016. Accessed February 2, 2016.
- ↑ Hail, Caesar! It's screwball comedy - who cares what really happened? ; Article in the Guardian
- ↑ Article in the Huffington Post
- ↑ Hail, Caesar! at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- ↑ Hail, Caesar! at Metacritic (English)
- ↑ David Steinitz: Late Roman Decadence at the Berlinale, Süddeutsche.de on February 11, 2016, accessed on February 13, 2016
- ↑ Wenke Husmann: The toast but please without rind, ZEIT Online from February 11, 2016, accessed on February 13, 2016
- ↑ Hail, Caesar! Jury reasons: Predicate particularly valuable In: German film and media evaluation . Retrieved February 17, 2016.