Ethan Coen
☼ Born on 21 December 1957, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Biography
The younger brother of Joel, Ethan Coen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning writer, producer and director coming from small independent films to big profile Hollywood films. He was born on September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some films of the brothers- Ethan & Joel wrote, Joel directed and Ethan produced - with both editing under the name of Roderick Jaynes; but in 2004 they started to share the three main duties plus editing. Each film bring its own quality, creativity, art and with one project more daring the other.
His film debut was in 1984 dark humored thriller Blood Simple (1984) starring Frances McDormand (Joel's wife) and M. Emmet Walsh in a deep story revolving a couple of romantic lovers followed by an insisting private eye. The film received critical acclaim, some award nominations to Ethan (best writing at the Film Independent Spirit Awards) and became a cult following over the years. Their second work was the comedy Raising Arizona (1987) starring Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter as a unusual couple trying to create their family by kidnapping babies from a rich family.
Miller's Crossing (1990) was the third film of the brothers, a mob drama with heavy influences from several criminal dramas and with a stellar cast that included Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Albert Finney, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro and Jon Polito (the latter three would become regular actors in the Coen's films).
Their views on the Hollywood era of the 1930's was the cen
(click to expand)
tral theme is the great Barton Fink (1991), created from a writers block both brothers suffered during the making of their previous film. John Turturro stars as a writer who suffers from a breakdown when he's commissioned to a big budget Hollywood project. The film was a breakthrough for the Coens marking their first win at the Cannes Film Festival (Joel got the Palme d'Or) and the first time a film of their received Oscar nominations. The underrated comedy The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) was what followed; but no one could predict their next big and boldest move that would definitely put Ethan and Joel on the spotlight once and for all.
The comedy of errors Fargo (1996) was a huge critical and commercial success. With its crazed story of a man who hires two loonies to kidnap his own wife and a pregnant policewoman tracking the leads to the crime, Ethan and Joel came at their greatest moment that couldn't be missed. The film received several awards during award season and the Coen's got their first Oscar in the Best Original Screenplay category. What came next was the underrated yet hilariously good The Big Lebowski (1998) starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, John Turturro and Steve Buscemi. Those masterpieces made their career in the late 1990's cementing the duo as one of the greatest writers and directors of their generation, if not, from all time.
The Odyssey retold for the 1930's in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000); the intelligent noir The Man Who Wasn't There (2001); the comedy Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and a remake The Ladykillers (2004) marked their way into the early 2000's. Certaintly of period of minor hits and some downer moments.
The big return was with the highly acclaimed No Country for Old Men (2007), where the brothers swooped at the Oscars with three wins: Best Picture, Screenplay and Writing, an adaptation from the Cormac McCarthy's novel.
A Serious Man (2009), Burn After Reading (2008), True Grit (2010), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Hail, Caesar! (2016) and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) were the subsequent films, all well received by audiences or got awards recognition, mostly nominations.
A shift from tone and career move was writing with other writers and for another directors: for Angelina Jolie's Unbroken (2014), for Spielberg in Bridge of Spies (2015) and George Clooney in Suburbicon (2017).
As for personal life, Ethan has been married to Tricia Cooke since 1990. Tricia works as an assistant editor in several of the Coen brothers films.
In the role of director
Drive-Away Dolls (29/02/2024)
Two lesbian friends on a road trip accidentally take an important package wanted by a group of criminals in Drive-Away Dolls. A group of criminals led by The Cheif (Colman Domingo), intercepts a very important briefcase from nervous collector Santos (Pedro Pascal) and prepares to have his goons Arliss (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C.J. Wilson) […]
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (16/11/2018)
From the Coen Brothers comes six tales from the wild frontier. In The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, singing outlaw Buster Scruggs (Tim Blake Nelson) enters into a town where he finally may have met his match. In Near Algodones, a Cowboy (James Franco) faces the consequences of a bank robbery gone wrong. In Meal Ticket, an Impresario (Liam Neeson) […]
Hail, Caesar! (08/02/2016)
The Coen Brothers play homage to classic Hollywood in the kidnapping comedy Hail, Caesar!. Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is the head of production at Capital Pictures, who is supervising the production of multiple motion pictures, the highest profile of which being the biblical epic Hail, Caesar! A Story of The Christ. When the film’s star Baird Whitlock […]
Inside Llewyn Davis (30/12/2013)
From directors Joel and Ethan Coen comes this musical drama about a folk singer named Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), who struggles to find success in Greenwich Village scene of 1961. Practically homeless, Llewyn resorts to crashing on his friend’s couches, while he watches the greater musical success of his friends Jim (Justin Timberlake) and Jean […]
Blindspot: A Serious Man (24/09/2012)
For this month’s blindspot film, I am choosing a release that is only three years old. I highly regretted missing out on the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man when it was released in 2009, especially after the film went on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. I suppose that I missed out on […]
True Grit (24/12/2010)
I’m not too familiar with the original 1969 film, other than the fact that it won John Wayne his only Oscar. However, for this version, the Coen Brothers decided to use more to the original book, than the film, so this can be seen more as a readaptation than a remake. The film is more […]
Burn After Reading (20/09/2008)
A year after taking a break from the genre with No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers return to comedy with Burn After Reading. I have to say that this is probably the Coen Brothers funniest film since 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou, though some people might even look at far back to […]
No Country for Old Men (11/11/2007)
During their career, the Coen brothers went back and forth between dark dramas and comedies. During the 11 1/2 years since the release of Fargo, they really leaned onto the latter with only 2001’s The Man Who Wasn’t There being the only real non-comedy released during that time. As such, you can call No Country […]