The Museum of Modern Art Spotlights Filmmaking Partners Joel and Ethan Coen During the Month of August in Ongoing Exhibition from the Collection
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THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART SPOTLIGHTS FILMMAKING PARTNERS JOEL AND ETHAN COEN DURING THE MONTH OF AUGUST IN ONGOING EXHIBITION FROM THE COLLECTION Nine Films from Blood Simple to No Country for Old Men Feature Coens' Core Team of Collaborators Collaborations In The Collection: Joel And Ethan Coen August 2–28, 2008 The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters New York, July 16, 2008—The Museum of Modern Art showcases the genre-bending films of brothers Joel and Ethan Coen from August 2 through 28, 2008, as part of Collaborations in the Collection, an initiative begun in 2007 to highlight collaborative relationships in cinema that have forged dynamic and memorable films. This ongoing exhibition, drawn from the 22,000 film titles in the Museum’s collection, samples a wide range of classic and contemporary film collaborations, both well-known and rarely noticed. Collaborations in the Collection is organized by Jenny He, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art. Joel and Ethan Coen, whose partnership is one of the most prominent filmmaking collaborations in contemporary cinema, have produced such award-winning films as Barton Fink (1991) and the Academy Award–winning No Country for Old Men (2007). The brothers go beyond writing and directing to also share producing and editing responsibilities, although they frequently go uncredited or use pseudonyms. In addition to collaborating with each other, the Coens repeatedly work with the same actors (Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Frances McDormand, Jon Polito, John Turturro); casting directors (Donna Isaacson, John Lyons, Ellen Chenoweth); cinematographers (Barry Sonnenfeld, Roger Deakins); composer (Carter Burwell); costume designers (Richard Hornung, Mary Zophres); editor (Roderick Jaynes, a pseudonym for the duo); production designer (Dennis Gassner); and sound editor (Skip Lievsay). Collaborating with the same actors and crew allows the Coens to embark on new collective challenges. Beginning with the dark crime feature Blood Simple (1984) and continuing through the elegant take on gangster films in Miller’s Crossing (1990) and the literary adaptation of No Country for Old Men (2007), the New York–based Coen brothers have paid homage to a host of genres while adding their own memorable characters, idiosyncratic touches, and cinematic style. Raising Arizona’s (1987) cast of oddballs—psychotic cops, escaped convicts, swingers, inept government officials, and a possible bounty hunter—are offset by Barry Sonnenfeld’s intentionally fake, storybook-inspired cinematography, while Dennis Gassner’s impeccable Art Deco sets in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) serve a script that combines the warmhearted fairy tale lessons of Frank Capra, the screwball elements of Howard Hawks’s comedies, and the verbal sparring of Preston Sturges’s films. The Museum of Modern Art acknowledges Miramax Films for the generous donation of No Country for Old Men. # # # No. 79 Press Contact: Margaret Doyle (212) 408-6400, or [email protected] For downloadable images, please visit www.moma.org/press Public Information: The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019 Film Adm: $10 adults; $8 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D. $6 full-time students with current I.D. (For admittance to film programs only) Free for members and children 16 and under. Subway: E or V train to Fifth Avenue/53rd Street Bus: On Fifth Avenue, take the M1, M2, M3, M4, or M5 to 53rd Street. On Sixth Avenue, take the M5, M6, or M7 to 53rd Street. Or take the M57 and M50 crosstown buses on 57th and 50th Streets. The public may call (212) 708-9400 for detailed Museum information. Visit us at www.moma.org COLLABORATIONS IN THE COLLECTION: JOEL AND ETHAN COEN SCREENING SCHEDULE Saturday, August 2 3:00 Blood Simple. 1984. USA. Directed by Joel Coen. Screenplay by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. Music by Carter Burwell. Cinematography by Barry Sonnenfeld. Editing by Roderick Jaynes, Don Wiegmann. Casting by Julie Hughes, Barry Moss. Production design by Jane Musky. Costume design by Sara Medina-Pape. Sound editing by Skip Lievsay. With Frances McDormand, John Getz, Dan Hedaya, M. Emmett Walsh. Nothing is simple in the Coen brothers' bloody debut. A cuckolded husband, cajoled by a slimy private investigator, enters into a plot to off his cheating wife and her lover—but the dead never really stay dead. On their first feature film, the Coens worked with McDormand, Burwell, Sonnenfeld, and Lievsay, who would all go on to become members of their core collaborative team. 99 min. 5:00 Raising Arizona. 1987. USA. Directed by Joel Coen. Screenplay by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. Music by Carter Burwell. Cinematography by Barry Sonnenfeld. Editing by Michael R. Miller. Casting by Donna Isaacson, John Lyons. Production design by Jane Musky. Costume design by Richard Hornung. Supervising sound editing by Skip Lievsay. With Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Frances McDormand. In this madcap comedy, incorrigible convenience-store robber H. I. McDunnough marries corrections officer Edwina, and they settle into a sublime domestic life. Only one thing is missing: a little bundle of joy. When they discover they cannot conceive, Ed convinces H. I. to steal a baby from Nathan Arizona, an unpainted-furniture tycoon and father of quintuplets. But soon psychotic cops, escaped convicts, swingers, inept government officials, and a relentless (perhaps imaginary) bounty hunter complicate their criminal quest for familial bliss. Wanting the film to resemble a children’s storybook, the Coens relied on Sonnenfeld’s cinematography to render everything overtly painterly—to the point of fakeness. Their collaboration with Sonnenfeld introduced many of the idiosyncratic touches that would come to characterize their work. 94 min. 7:00 Miller's Crossing. 1990. USA. Directed by Joel Coen. Screenplay by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. Music by Carter Burwell. Cinematography by Barry Sonnenfeld. Editing by Michael R. Miller. Casting by Donna Isaacson, John Lyons. Production design by Dennis Gassner. Costume design by Richard Hornung. Supervising sound editing by Skip Lievsay. With Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Albert Finney, John Turturro, Jon Polito, Steve Buscemi. Byrne plays a 1930s Irish mobster at the center of a dense knot of twists and turns, double-crosses, and sleights of hand in this elegant take on the gangster film genre, complete with rat-a-tat-tat dialogue and mannered shoot-outs. Miller’s Crossing is the Coens’ last collaboration with Sonnenfeld, who characterized the crew as “a team of filmmakers.” 115 min. Saturday, August 16 2:00 Barton Fink. 1991. USA. Directed by Joel Coen. Screenplay by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. Music by Carter Burwell. Cinematography by Roger Deakins. Editing by Roderick Jaynes. Casting by Donna Isaacson, John Lyons. Production design by Dennis Gassner. Costume design by Richard Hornung. Supervising sound editing by Skip Lievsay. With John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Jon Polito, Steve Buscemi. A liberal New York playwright travels to Hollywood to write a wrestling screenplay for the actor Wallace Beery. The film starts off as a light satire on the movie industry, but soon takes a decidedly dark turn toward the bizarre. Barton Fink won the Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Performance (for Turturro) awards at the Cannes Film Festival, the first time a single film had swept those categories. The film features such Coen regulars as Turturro and Goodman, both of whom have since appeared in four of the Coens’ twelve features to date. Gassner, whom the Coens have worked with on six films, displays in Barton Fink some of the Art Deco touches that would be fully realized in the next Coen film, The Hudsucker Proxy. 116 min. 4:30 The Hudsucker Proxy. 1994. USA. Directed by Joel Coen. Screenplay by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Sam Raimi. Music by Carter Burwell. Cinematography by Roger Deakins. Editing by Thom Noble. Casting by Donna Isaacson, John Lyons. Production design by Dennis Gassner. Costume design by Richard Hornung. Supervising sound editing by Skip Lievsay. With Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Newman, Steve Buscemi, Jon Polito. When the president of Hudsucker Industries jumps to his death from the forty-fourth-floor boardroom, the fat cats on the board of directors, hoping to gobble up company stock on the cheap, promote an imbecile to the presidency. But their patsy proxy Norville Barnes, the moron from Muncie, somehow comes out on top—with the help of some divine intervention. The Coens relied on their frequent collaborators to help create the now well- known Coen trademark of bending genre to their needs. Gassner’s impeccable Art Deco sets are gorgeously lit and photographed in an expressionistic manner by Deakins to server a script combines the warmhearted fairy tale lessons of Frank Capra, the screwball elements of Howard Hawks’s comedies, and the verbal sparring of Preston Sturges’s films. 111 min. 7:00 Fargo. 1996. USA. Directed by Joel Coen. Screenplay by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. Music by Carter Burwell. Cinematography by Roger Deakins. Editing by Roderick Jaynes. Casting by John Lyons. Production design by Rick Heinrichs. Costume design by Mary Zophres. Supervising sound editing by Skip Lievsay. With Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi. A man in dire financial straits schemes with crooks to kidnap his wealthy wife for ransom. When the thugs end up committing a triple murder during the kidnapping, the very sharp (and very pregnant) local police chief quickly closes in on the hapless, bumbling conspirators. Speaking on the value of working with the same cinematographer, Joel Coen says, “[Roger] understands what we are after, and frequently comes up with stuff on the spot that reflects what we want to do in a scene.” In turn, Deakins reflects on the fluidity of the brothers’ working style: “Either of them will be talking about the shot, lenses or whatever.