Josh Brolin

Universal Pictures have announced today that they will distribute the next movie from the Coen brothers (Hail, Caesar), making it the eighth collaboration between the trio.

However, that’s not the most exciting reveal to come out of the announcement as it has been confirmed that Josh Brolin will reteam with Joel and Ethan Coen after their last collaboration, No Country for Old Men. He will also be joined by previously rumoured cast member George Clooney.

Hail, Caesar will be directed by the Coen Brothers from their own original screenplay, and they will also produce the movie alongside Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan of Working Title Films.

So, what’s Hail, Caesar about exactly?

Well, it has recently been described as being set in the 1950s and focusing on a “fixer” who worked for the studios to protect the stars of the day (think Ray Donovan). The lead character will be Eddie Mannix, a role which has been compared to the real-life Fred Otash, a private investigator who worked for Confidential magazine and was the muckraker of the time using wiretaps to spy on movie stars and gather dirt. Otash was a former lifeguard who became a cop, lost his job as a cop and became a private eye who wiretapped.

There was a real-life Eddie Mannix (an MGM VP whose wife had an affair with small screen Superman George Reeves), but it’s not clear whether that’s simply a coincidence at this point.

Either way, the Coen Brothers are sure to bring their unique mixture of quirky humour and crime drama to this movie, and we’ll keep you updated on how it progresses from here!