Joel Coen (b. 1954)

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Biography

Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker. Working alongside his brother Ethan, he has directed, written, edited and produced many feature films, the most acclaimed of which include Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Ladykillers (2004), No Country for Old Men (2007), Burn After Reading (2008), A Serious Man (2009), True Grit (2010), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Hail, Caesar! (2016) and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018).

Timeline

The story of Joel Coen, told in moments.

1984 Event

Directed Blood Simple with Ethan producing. Made for $1.5 million, raised partly through a trailer they shot before the film existed. Won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.

How do you raise money with a trailer for a film that doesn't exist? Did Sundance feel like validation or just a starting line? Was Blood Simple the film you imagined or something better?

1996 Event

Fargo won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and two Academy Awards. Frances McDormand, Joel's wife, took Best Actress. The Coens insisted the "true story" opening title was fiction.

Was the 'true story' title in Fargo mischief or method? How does it feel when your wife wins an Oscar for your script? Did Cannes change how you saw your own work?

2007 Event

No Country for Old Men won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. The brothers accepted the award together. They'd shared every credit on every film.

Is sharing every credit with your brother generosity or honesty? Did four Oscars for No Country feel like a peak or just Tuesday? What does Best Picture mean when you share it with family?

Artifacts (15)

Raising Arizona

The Screenplay: Raising Arizona stars Holly Hunter and Nicolas Cage. The film confirms the cultish wit, fresh cinematography, and well-structured plot that are the Coens' trademarks. Raising Arizona...

1988

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Barton Fink ; Miller's Crossing

Barton Fink: Cast gender - mostly males; number - 19 males, 5 females (total 24); size - large; ages - adults. Set in Hollywood in the 40s, this story is a deeply dark, yet comic satire about creative...

1991

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Blood Simple and Raising Arizona

Blood Simple is a contemporary noir thriller in which a woman commits adultery and her estranged husband hires a killer to exact revenge. Blackmail, violence and mistaken assumptions lead to an...

1996

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The Making of Joel and Ethan Coen's The Big Lebowski

In giving unprecedented assistance to the authors of this book the Coen brothers agreed for the first time to to reveal how they work. The book is structured around a few key scenes and follws the...

1998

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O brother: where art thou ? : scénario bilingue

Dans le Mississippi, pendant la grande dépression, trois prisonniers enchaînés s'évadent du bagne. Ils tentent l'aventure pour retrouver leur liberté et leur maison. Unis par leurs chaînes, ils...

2000

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The Barber: Scénario Bilingue ; Traduit de L'américain Par Stéphane Roques

1949, une petite ville des Etats-Unis. Ed, coiffeur, est marié à une femme qui lui est infidèle. L'équilibre du couple, déjà précaire, est d'autant plus fragilisé quand l'amant de l'épouse est...

2001

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Intolerable Cruelty

The new Coen Brothers/Universal film starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones tells the story of a hotshot divorce attorney who gets more than he bargained for when he falls for a client's...

2003

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The Coen Brothers: Interviews

Collected interviews with the quirky and distinctive writer/director team of such films as Raising Arizona, Intolerable Cruelty, and Barton Fink

2006

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Burn After Reading

Joel and Ethan Coen take on the spy thriller genre and reinvent it in their unique voice.

2008

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A Serious Man

Script for the motion picture, A serious man.

2009

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The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski begins with a case of mistaken identity which escalates when Jeffrey Lebowski - alias The Dude - attempts to seek recompense for the despoilation of his ratty-ass little rug, and then...

2009

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Inside Llewyn Davis: The Screenplay

Quintessential Coen brothers fare – but different. Inside Llewyn Davis has a certain kinship with Les Misérables. In it almost all the principal actors – Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake...

2013

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Hail Caesar!

Hail,Caesar! is the story of Eddie Mannix, tireless pursuer of the interests of fictional Capitol Pictures, circa 1951. He is the ultimate studio fixer and---since the studio is his world---the...

2016

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Ethan Coen and Joel Coen: Collected Screenplays 1: Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink

These four early works by the internationally lauded filmmaking team deal with the subject for which they are best known: corruption and crime in situations that combine the real and the surreal with...

2002

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if animal passion had not blinded me, I should have been spared the torture of s...

left his father's bedside to be with his wife mere minutes before his passing. Many decades later, Gandhi wrote "if animal passion had not blinded me, I should have been spared the torture of...

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