November 18, 2014 (Series 29:13) Joel and Ethan Coen, FARGO (1996, 98 minutes) Fargo won 2 Academy Awards in 1997, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Frances McDormand, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen Written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Produced by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Music by Carter Burwell Cinematography by Roger Deakins Film Editing by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Special Effects by Wilfred Caban, Dieter Sturm, and Yvonne Sturm William H. Macy ... Jerry Lundegaard Steve Buscemi ... Carl Showalter Peter Stormare ... Gaear Grimsrud Kristin Rudrüd ... Jean Lundegaard Harve Presnell ... Wade Gustafson Tony Denman ... Scotty Lundegaard Steve Reevis ... Shep Proudfoot Frances McDormand ... Marge Gunderson Cliff Rakerd ... Officer Olson José Feliciano ... Himself Grit, 2009 A Serious Man, 2008 Burn After Reading, 2007 No Bark Beetle ... Narrator Country for Old Men, 2004 The Ladykillers, 2003 Intolerable Cruelty, 2001 The Man Who Wasn't There, 2000 O Brother, Joel and Ethan Coen (director, writer, producer) Where Art Thou?, 1998 The Big Lebowski, 1996 Fargo, 1994 (b. Joel Daniel Coen, November 29, 1954; Ethan Jesse Coen, The Hudsucker Proxy, 1991 Barton Fink, 1990 Miller's September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) won 4 Crossing, 1987 Raising Arizona, and 1984 Blood Simple. Academy Awards: 1997 Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for Fargo (1996), 2008 Best Motion Roger Deakins (cinematographer) Picture of the Year for No Country for Old Men (2007), which (b. May 24, 1949 in Torquay, Devon, England) has been the they shared with Scott Rudin; 2008 Best Achievement in cinematographer for 75 films and television shows, including Directing for No Country for Old Men (2007); and 2008 Best 2013 Prisoners, 2012 Skyfall, 2010 True Grit, 2010 The Writing, Adapted Screenplay for No Country for Old Men Company Men, 2009 A Serious Man, 2008 Revolutionary Road, (2007). Joel has 23 producer credits, 23 writing credits, 19 2008 The Reader, 2008 Doubt, 2007 The Assassination of Jesse director credits, and 14 editing credits. Ethan hhas 24 producer James by the Coward Robert Ford, 2007 In the Valley of Elah, creddits, 27 writer credits, 19 director credits, and 14 editor 2007 No Country for Old Men, 2005 Jarhead, 2004 The credits. The two usually edit under the name “Roderick Jaynes.” Ladykillers, 2003 House of Sand and Fog, 2003 Intolerable Some of their films are 2013 Inside Llewyn Davis, 2010 True Cruelty, 2001 A Beautiful Mind, 2001 The Man Who Wasn't Coen—FARGO—2 There, 2000 O Brother, Where Art Thou, 1998 The Big of Life, 2006 One Night with You, 2005 The Brothers Grimm, Lebowski, 1997 Kundun, 1996 Fargo, 1995 Dead Man Walking, 2002 Minority Report, 2002 Bad Company, 2000 Chocolat, 1994 The Shawshank Redemption, 1994 The Hudsucker Proxy, 2000 Dancer in the Dark, 1998 Armageddon, 1998 Mercury 1993 The Secret Garden, 1992 Thunderheart, 1991 Barton Fink, Rising, 1998 The Big Lebowski, 1997 The Lost World: Jurassic 1991 Homicide, 1990 Air America, 1988 Pascali's Island, 1987 Park, 1996 Fargo, and 1990 Awakenings. White Mischief, 1986 Sid and Nancy, 1984 Nineteen Eighty- Four, 1983 Another Time, Another Place, 1980 Van Morrison in Frances McDormand ... Marge Gunderson Ireland (Documentary), 1980 Blue Suede Shoes (Documentary), (b. Frances Louise McDormand, June 23, 1957 in Chicago, 1977 Marquis de Sade's Justine, and 1975 Mothers Own Illinois) won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Actress in a (Documentary short). Leading Role for Fargo (1996). She has appeared in 60 films and television shows, some of which are 2014 “Olive William H. Macy ... Jerry Lundegaard Kitteridge” (TV Mini-Series), 2012 Promised Land, 2012 (b. William Hall Macy Jr., March 13, 1950 in Miami, Florida) Moonrise Kingdom, 2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon, has appeared in 132 films and television shows, among them 2008 Burn After Reading, 2005 North Country, 2002 City by the 2011-2015 Shameless (TV Series, 55 episodes), 2014 Two-Bit Sea, 2002 Laurel Canyon, 2001 The Man Who Wasn't There, Waltz, 2013 Trust Me, 2012 The Sessions, 2010 Dirty Girl, 2000 Almost Famous, 2000 Wonder Boys, 1998 Madeline, 1997 1994-2009 ER (TV Series, 31 episodes), 2007 Wild Hogs, 2006 Paradise Road, 1996 Lone Star, 1996 Primal Fear, 1996 Fargo, Everyone's Hero, 2006 Inland Empire, 2005 Thank You for 1995 Beyond Rangoon, 1994 Bleeding Hearts, 1993 Short Cuts, Smoking, 2004 In Enemy Hands, 2003 Seabiscuit, 2003 The 1991 The Butcher's Wife, 1991 Barton Fink, 1990 Miller's Cooler, 2001 Jurassic Park III, 2000 Panic, 1999 Magnolia, Crossing, 1988 Mississippi Burning, 1987 Raising Arizona, 1998 A Civil Action, 1997 Wag the Dog, 1997 Boogie Nights, 1985 “Hunter” (TV Series), and 1984 Blood Simple. 1997 Air Force One, 1996 Ghosts of Mississippi, 1996 Fargo, 1996 “Andersonville” (TV Movie), 1995 Mr. Holland's Opus, 1995 Murder in the First, 1994 Oleanna, 1994 The Client, 1994 Being Human, 1993 Searching for Bobby Fischer, 1990-1992 “Law & Order” (TV Series), 1991 Shadows and Fog, 1991 Homicide, 1987 House of Games, 1987 Radio Days, 1983 WarGames, and 1980 Somewhere in Time. Steve Buscemi ... Carl Showalter (b. Steven Vincent Buscemi, December 13, 1957 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York) appeared in 130 films and television shows, some of which are 2010-2014 Boardwalk Empire (TV Series, 56 episodes), 2014 The Cobbler, 2013 Grown Ups 2, 2013 The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, 2007- 2013 “30 Rock” (TV Series, 6 episodes), 2012 On the Road, 2010 Grown Ups, 2009 Saint John of Las Vegas, 2006 Charlotte's Web, 2004-2006 “The Sopranos” (TV Series, 14 episodes), 2005 The Island, 2003 Coffee and Cigarettes, 2001 Joel & Ethan Coen, from The St James Film Directors Monsters, Inc., 2001 Ghost World, 2000 Animal Factory, 1998 Encyclopedia. Ed. Andrew Sarris. Visible Ink, NY, 1998. Armageddon, 1998 The Big Lebowski, 1997 Con Air, 1996 Entry by R. Barton Palmer Escape from L.A., 1996 Kansas City, 1996 Trees Lounge, 1996 Fargo, 1995 Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, 1995 Although Joel Coen had worked as an assistant film editor on “Homicide: Life on the Street” (TV Series), 1994 Airheads, commercial projects and had made valuable contacts within the 1994 Pulp Fiction, 1994 The Hudsucker Proxy, 1993 Twenty industry (particularly director Sam Raimi), he and his brother Bucks, 1992 Reservoir Dogs, 1991 Billy Bathgate, 1991 Barton Ethan decided to produce their first feature film independently, Fink, 1990 Miller's Crossing, 1990 King of New York, 1989 raising $750,000 to shoot their jointly written script for Blood Mystery Train, 1987 Heart, 1986 No Picnic, and 1985 The Way Simple, a neo-noir thriller with a Dashiell Hammett title and a It Is. He also has 13 film and TV series directing credits, and 10 script full of homages to Jim Thompson. Though Joel received producer credits. screen credit for direction, and Ethan for the script, this distinction is somewhat artificial both here and in their Peter Stormare ... Gaear Grimsrud subsequent productions. Joel and Ethan cowrite their scripts and (b. Peter Ingvar Storm, August 27, 1953 in Arbrå, Gävleborgs meticulously prepare storyboards in a collaborative effort län, Sweden) has appeared in 150 films and television shows, unusual for the American cinema (the closest analogy perhaps among them 2015 Dark Summer, 2014 Bang Bang Baby, 2014 comes from abroad with the British team of Powell and 22 Jump Street, 2013 Heatstroke, 2013 The Zero Theorem, 2013 Pressburger). The Last Stand, 2012 Lockout, 2010 Henry's Crime, 2010 Blood Simple was hardly the first film the Coen Undocumented, 2010 Corridor, 2009 “Entourage” (TV Series), brothers made together. Addicted to TV and movies at an early 2009 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, 2009 The Killing age, they spent a good deal of their childhood writing films and Room, 2008 Witless Protection, 2008 Orgies and the Meaning then shooting them on a Super-8 camera. Movie brats in the Coen—FARGO—3 Spielberg tradition, Ethan and Joel desired commercial success romantic tradition of the gangster film most tellingly but were determined to retain control over what they produced. exemplified by The Godfather (1972). The central character, a Hence their initial desire to make an independent film rather “good guy” high up in the organization, confusingly seems more than continue working in an industry where Joel was already a victim of his poor circumstances than a force to be reckoned beginning to be established. with. The plot is otherwise dependent upon unbelievable A hit with many on the art film/independent circuit but characters and unlikely twists and turns. Some elements of also a commercial success in art houses and cable release, Blood parody are present, but are not well integrated into the film’s Simple was the perfect choice to structure, indicating that the achieve this aim. Here was a film Coens were uncertain about that succeeded because of its how to proceed, whether to individual, even quircky vision. make a gangster film or send Using the film noir conventions up the conventions of the popular with American audiences genre. for half a century, the Coens offer The other films share a clear narrative, solidly two- a different representational dimensional characters, and the regime, a magical realism that requisite amount of riveting violent does not demand spectacle (including one scene that versimilitude or logical pictures a dying man buried alive closure, but has the virtue— and another featuring close-ups of for the Coens-of permitting a white-gloved hand suddenly more stylization, more impaled by a knife. Blood Simple, moments of pure cinema. however, is by no means an ordinary thriller. The plot turns Raising Arizona and The Hudsucker Proxy offer postmodern expertly and unexpectedly on a number of dramatic ironies (no versions of the traditional Hollywood madcap comedy; in both character knows what the spectator does and even the spectator films, a series of zany adventures climax in romantic happiness is sometimes taken by surprise).