Coen Brothers Trivia

1. Which actress is married to Joel Coen and won an Academy Award for her portrayal as a pregnant police chief?

From Quiz Casting Choices of the Coen Brothers

Answer: Frances McDormand

Frances McDormand, brilliant in "Fargo", has also been featured in "The Wonder Boys" and "Almost Famous". Holly Hunter apparently had suggested her for the role in "Fargo".

From Quiz Casting Choices of the Coen Brothers

Answer: Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage starred alongside Holly Hunter in "Raising Arizona", a Coen gem of 1987. His uncle is none other than Francis Ford Coppola!

From Quiz The Directors: The Coen Brothers

Answer: David Huddleston

David Huddleston is a well known character actor with such film credits as "Brian's Song"(1971), "Blazing Saddles"(1974), "The Producers"(2005) as well a prolific list of television appearances. Jeff Bridges played Jeffrey Lebowski, generally referred to as "The Dude" a pothead, slacker, and bowler. The gist of the plot is that he is mistaken for the "Big" Lebowski, a wheelchair bound veteran who puts on a big front but actually works for his mother. Thugs enter the Dude's apartment, waterboard him in the toilet and demand he pay for his wife's debts. They also urinate on his favorite rug. When they realize they have the wrong Lebowski, they leave. The Dude looks up the big Lebowski and demands that he pay for a replacement rug and is met by a stern rejection. Later, the big Lebowski contacts the Dude and asks him to be courier for a million dollars to foster the release of his trophy wife from kidnappers for a fee of 20,000 dollars. However, Walter Sobchak (John Goodman), Dude's best friend, gives him bad advice to keep the money and substitute Walter's dirty underwear. This sets off a chain of events with various groups who believe that the Dude has the money. These are told through dreams, fantasy, mistaken identity, and confrontations. In spite of mixed critical reviews, the film made money and became a cult classic. Several cities have 'Dude Fests' where the film might be shown marathon style and incorporated with bowling opportunities. In 2005 the "The Church of the Latter-Day Dude" was established with over 20,000 ordained priests. Rotten Tomatoes: 81% but a great cult favorite.

From Quiz Casting Choices of the Coen Brothers

Answer: Holly Hunter

Holly Hunter has also starred in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" opposite George Clooney, and she supplied an uncredited voice in "Blood Simple".

From Quiz The Directors: The Coen Brothers

Answer: Raising Arizona

Jailhouse policewoman Edwina (Holly Hunter) develops an affection for recidivism prone convenience store robber Hi (Nicolas Cage). At his last release the two decide to marry and move to a mobile home in the desert. Their happiness is marred by Ed's infertility and they can not adopt due to Hi's criminal record. When they learn that quintuplets have been born to a wealthy couple, they figure that they would not miss just one. They then begin to raise Arizona. But their bliss is disturbed by the appearance of Hi's old criminal friends (John Goodman and William Forsythe) that initiates a series of plot twists. Part of the charm of "Raising Arizona" is the use of stilted language but is also a source of negative criticism. Case in point, Hi describes their childlessness as "Edwina's insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase." For Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, and John Goodman it was considered a firm career boost. Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

From Quiz Casting Choices of the Coen Brothers

Answer: John Goodman

John Goodman has appeared in "Raising Arizona", "The Hudsucker Proxy", "The Big Lebowski" and "O Brother, Where Art thou?", but his finest moment was his role in "Barton Fink".

From Quiz The Directors: The Coen Brothers

Answer: Dashiell Hammett

Plot influences are found in several of Dashiell Hammett's works including "The Glass Key"(1931),"Red Harvest"(1929), and a 1925 short story "Corkscrew". These sources had previously been adapted in the Japanese film "Yojimbo" (1961) by Kurosawa. Tom Reagan(Gabriel Byrne) is the underboss to mob kingpin Leo O'Bannon (Albert Finney). A gang war is about to break out over the loose cannon antics of Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro). This is complicated in that Verna Bernbaum (Marcia Gay Harden) is O'Bannon's girlfriend and is having an affair with Tom. She is also the sister to Bernie Bernbaum. Tom Reagan must tread a narrow path to bring the warring camps into an alignment with the least amount of bloodshed. One critic said "a superb, languid fantasia on the theme of the gangster film that repays endless viewing". Rotten Tomatoes: 91%

From Quiz Casting Choices of the Coen Brothers

Answer: Gabriel Byrne

Foxed you! All of these men have appeared opposite Kevin Spacey - but Gabriel Byrne is the man who had his role in "Miller's Crossing" tailor-made for him. Steven Baldwin co-starred with Kevin Spacey in "The Usual Suspects" (along with Gabriel Byrne), Peter Gallagher portrayed real-estate tycoon Buddy King in "American Beauty," and Donald Sutherland was in "Outbreak".

From Quiz The Directors: The Coen Brothers

Answer: Homer's "Odyssey"

The Coens might not have read the "Odyssey" but they did what good researchers do--they read everything they could on the characters and plot to incorporate into the screenplay. According to an Internet notation "Despite the fact that Ethan described the Odyssey as "one of my favorite storyline schemes" neither of the brothers had read the epic and were only familiar with its content through adaptations and numerous references to the Odyssey in popular culture" Ulysses McGill (George Clooney) along with two others (John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson) escape from prison. Ulysses has two objectives. One is to recover monies that he hid prior to his incarceration; two is to prevent his wife Penny (Holly Hunter) from remarrying. Along this path they encounter dangers and adventures that parallel the original "Odyssey" but transformed into the American south and the 1930s. In one instance the trio end up in a 1930s radio station, they call themselves the Soggy Bottom Boys, and sing "Man of Constant Sorrow". The boys do not know that the song is secretly recorded and becomes a hit on the radio circuit. The Coens had engaged T-Bone Burnett as music coordinator before the script was completed and the emphasis was to capture the mood of the 1930s with gospel, delta blues, country, swing and bluegrass. Although the Coens had powerful sound tracks in their other films, this one exceeded expectations. Many of the songs were re-recorded by a variety of folk and country artists. The film received two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography. George Clooney won Best Actor in a Comedy at the Golden Globes. Someone I respect as a movie buff said he walked out on the film. Roger Ebert gave it two stars and said "wonderful in their different ways, and yet I left the movie uncertain and unsatisfied". Rotten Tomatoes gave it 77%.

From Quiz Casting Choices of the Coen Brothers

Answer: Tim Robbins

The character Norville Barnes is the idiot-made-good in "The Hudsucker Proxy". Andy Dufresne is the character Tim Robbins made famous in "The Shawshank Redemption".

From Quiz The Directors: The Coen Brothers

Answer: No Country for Old Men

Some critics gushed that "No Country for Old Men" would go down as the Coen Brothers' 'masterpiece'. The screenplay was based on Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name. The writing has been described as Joel at the computer and Ethan with the book open and exchanging ideas on each page. The result is a faithful rendering of the book except for minor characters and non-related subplots. Trying to put it into a genre, the closest would be neo-western. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) accidentally comes across a scene in the desert of a drug deal gone bad. He finds two million dollars and takes it with him. Meanwhile Anton Chigurh (played by Best Supporting Actor Javier Bardem) has been hired to recover the money. Chigurh is a ruthless killer. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) trails both Moss and Chigurh but never really gets a handle on either. Bell is retiring and is haunted by dreams of failure and death. Don't look for a happy ending. The film was honored by both major and minor film societies and was appraised as 93% by Rotten Tomatoes. The title comes from a poem by William Butler Yeats: "That is no country for old men. The young In one another's arms, birds in the trees - Those dying generations - at their song, The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long Whatever is begotten, born, and dies. Caught in that sensual music all neglect Monuments of unageing intellect"

From Quiz Casting Choices of the Coen Brothers

Answer: Steve Buscemi

He is a brilliant actor who has also appeared in "Armageddon", "The Wedding Singer" and "Domestic Disturbance". Strangely, his characters in the Coen flicks almost always come to a sticky end. Chet, the bellboy in "Barton Fink" burns to death in the hotel, Carl Showalter in "Fargo" goes through a thresher (Eew!), and Donny in "The Big Lebowski" suffers a painful heart attack.

From Quiz The Directors: The Coen Brothers

Answer: Simple

A bar owner (Dan Hedaya) suspects his wife Abby (Frances McDormand)is having an affair with Ray (John Getz), his bartender. He hires Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh)a private detective to investigate. When his suspicions are confirmed, he changes the task to murder. Thus is unleashed a series of small incidents that have major consequences, misunderstandings, and bloody confrontations The film had modest success in theaters but was a hit with critics, achieving a lofty 94% from Rotten Tomatoes. As film critic Roger Ebert once said "No film with M. Emmet Walsh in it, can not be too bad." The Coens brought a new dimension to 'film noir'. You, the viewer, knows what is going on but the characters seem clueless.

From Quiz Casting Choices of the Coen Brothers

Answer: John Turturro

Jesus Quintana is one of the many crazy characters in the magnificent "The Big Lebowski", which also starred Jeff Bridges as "The Dude". John Turturro was also hilarious as Pete in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" He studied at the prestigious Yale Drama School.

From Quiz The Directors: The Coen Brothers

Answer: Cosmetic surgery

Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) is a retired CIA agent with a drinking problem. He decides to write an exposé of the agency. He loses the computer disc at his health club where it falls into the hands of Linda Litzke and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), health club employees. Linda believes that they can make some money on the find, perhaps enough for the cosmetic surgery she is contemplating. Chad volunteers to help her as he not the sharpest knife in the drawer and resembles a laid back slacker. A blackmail attempt on Cox ends in failure. Then Litzke and Feldheimer go to the dark side and try to sell the disc to the Soviet Union who find the disc only to contain 'drivel'. George Clooney in a sub-plot has an affair with Cox's wife. The final scene has an assistant trying to explain to the CIA Director (J. K. Simmons) what has happened. The Director uses colorful language to describe the situation, allows Clooney to go to Venezuela because the US as no extradition agreement, and pays for Linda's cosmetic surgery, and states that is a lesson to be learned but no one knows what it is. Reviews were mixed but for the most part positive. "People Magazine" said "unrelenting dumbness and dim-witted behavior is at first amusing and enjoyable but eventually grows wearing". Roger Ebert in his review said "It's funny, sometimes delightful, sometimes a little sad, with dialogue that sounds perfectly logical until you listen a little more carefully and realize all of these people are mad". Rotten Tomatoes summarized it with a 78%. Personally, I thought it is the most underrated Coen production.

From Quiz Casting Choices of the Coen Brothers

Answer: Albert Finney

Albert Finney, born in Manchester, England, starred in "Tom Jones" in 1963, and he was simply brilliant in "Miller's Crossing," released in 1990. Julia Roberts was lucky enough to star opposite him in "Erin Brokovich", a role which won her an Academy Award.

From Quiz Casting Choices of the Coen Brothers

Answer: Barry Sonnenfeld

Mr. Sonnenfeld, who worked as a cinematographer on "Blood Simple", "Raising Arizona" and "Miller's Crossing," is now more famous for directing "Men in Black" and "Get Shorty".

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