Akira may be suffering set-backs (fans of the original the world over rejoice), but Garrett Hedlund doesn’t appear to be taking it to heart.

The Tron: Legacy star has signed on to star in the Coen brothers’ latest project, a drama set in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk music scene. The film, titled Inside Llewyn Davis, follows the career of singer Dave Van Ronk, a real life friend of Bob Dylan and author of the memoir the film is to be based on.

This isn’t Hedlund’s first foray into musical drama, having starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in last year’s Country Strong. While the film might have faltered, Hedlund held his own in a relatively demanding role.

Although at this time it isn’t clear who the actor will be playing, he will join a cast which also includes Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman.

Variety had this one first.

Deadline are reporting that the Coen Brothers have chosen a lead actor for their next production, which looks at the lives of a couple of singers during the early folk music scene in New York’s Greenwich Village in the 60’s (not the most mainstream of topics, but after the success of True Grit, they can probably do whatever they like).

Drive’s Oscar Isaac is the lucky guy (apparently a whole host of Hollywood actors have been hustling for the part) and he’ll be playing a part which is loosely based on a real-life artist from that period in the interestingly-titled Inside Llewyn Davis which begins production early next year in the Big Apple.

Nice to see Isaac nabbing a potentially star-making role. The Guatemalan-born actor is currently filming the next Bourne instalment (which should see his profile raised even further) and he really stood out in what was essentially a miner role in Nicolas Winding Refn’s film, bringing a humanity and warmth to what could have been an unsympathetic, one-note character.

We’ve already seen respected filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Alexander Payne and Michael Mann lend their considerable talents to the small screen, and now none other than Ethan and Joel Coen will be joining those celebrated names.

Collider is reporting that the quirky siblings are to executive produce the oddly-titled HarveKarbo for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine TV. Co-created with Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids), the show will focus on a Los Angeles-based private investigator who constantly comes into contact with the who’s who of Hollywood (wonder if that means he’ll mingle with a real-life, Entourage-style mix of celebs?)

It’s early days yet of course (the pilot has to impress before a full series is commissioned) but if the Coens have agreed to get behind it, there must be something special in there.

No word yet if the brothers will be directing that first episode but it would be fun to see if their idiosyncratic style of filmmaking could fit into the more rigorous mould of TV.

To celebrate the launch of The Big Lebowski on Blu-ray Universal have gathered the cast back together for a Q&A, or as they are billing it – a Live Cast Reunion.

Few films have the addled richness and wit of the Coen Brothers’ 1998 film and it remains a quotable, highly watchable film and one which, despite it being very much a product of its time, is likely to be watched and enjoyed for many years to come. Certainly that’s what the studios hope will entice fans to stump up the cash for the new Blu-ray set.

Our review of the disc will be up on the site nearer the release date (19th of this month) but for now pull up a chair, a rug even and grab the milk, vodka and Kahlua and toast the return of one of the cinematic high points of the 1990s – The Big Lebowksi.

Oh, you want popcorn? That’s fine. You want a toe? I can get you a toe Dude. With nail polish.

The show is due to start at around 11.30 GMT.

File this under S for Speculation for now, but the good folks over at Empire today received the potential scoop that Joel and Ethan Coen may have plans to make a “full-on horror film.” It’s an intriguing prospect, but with the Coens is anything ever that (Blood) simple?

Let’s weigh up the evidence.

Empire’s article states that, having popped into the magazine’s office to discuss the brothers’ latest Oscar nominated hit, True Grit, Ethan Coen was asked about what other projects he and Joel had up their collective sleeve. Questioned as to whether the duo would ever consider turning their hand to the horror genre, Ethan reportedly replied; “Funny you should ask, yes, we’re working on a couple of scripts now, one of which it would be fair to call a full-on horror movie. Frances McDormand is the monster.”

Judging by the fact that Frances is not only very pleasant, but also Joel’s wife, it’s safe to assume that the latter part of Ethan’s statement is a joke. But without being present to hear any pauses or tonal shifts, can we be so quick to write off the beginning of his response as well? Empire don’t think so, stating that “they believe him on the first part.”

If the suggestion proves an honest one, then there’s no guarantee that horror would be the brothers’ next move. However, Empire did find out which projects definitely won’t be. “Gambit [a remake of the 1966 Michael Caine title] was just a writing job,” Ethan told them, “it seems like the movie is going to get made but not by us.” And what about Old Fink, the Barton Fink sequel? “John Turturro is not old enough yet. And the whole thing may be more a thought experiment than a movie,” Ethan confided.

“We don’t really know what we’re doing yet; we’re working on a couple of scripts,” the writer-director concluded, which – as luck would have it – brings us right back to his statement about that potential horror project. Are there scares on the horizon of Coenville? With the brothers often filling their films with a unique combination of laughs, violence and human despair the idea definitely has legs… and perhaps they’ll be severed ones.

Source: Empire Online.

Dakota Fanning (The Runaways) has signed on to star in period drama Girls’ Night Out.

Fanning is set to play a teenage Princess Margaret.

Girls’ Night Out was penned by Trevor De Silva and will follow a teenage Princess Margaret on V.E. Day in 1945 when she and her sister Elizabeth are allowed out from Buckingham Palace for one night to join in the celebrations, and the encompassing night’s thrills, romance and danger.

Michael Hoffman (The Last Station), who is gearing up to shoot the Coen Brothers-penned remake of Gambit with Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) and Cameron Diaz (The Green Hornet), is attached to direct.

Production is expected to begin in late 2011.

Source: The Playlist

**Update: Looks like this has been debunked already. Why say that you’re filming it if you’re really not?! Crazy lady!!**

Here’s some crazy news that has come from nowhere (and could be complete rubbish) or Tara Reid has just decided to have a joke with the person interviewing her. But in this interview with Hollywood.tv, the actress who appeared in the original 1998 Coen Brothers directed movie, The Big Lebowski as Bunny Lebowski, she says that this year she’s going to be filming The Big Lebowski 2. She then goes onto say that the whole cast will be back but from what she says next, I think that’s about American Pie 4 but she definitely mentions filming The Big Lebowski but the interviewer doesn’t pick up on it.

The Big Lebowski is one of those movies that has a fanbase who quote it all the time and use it as a way of life, not just as a classic movie! An example of which can be shown in the video we put up a few weeks ago where Jeff Bridges visits a shop dedicated to the movie, The Little Lebowski.

The original movie had a stella lineup which included starred John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tara Reid and Jeff Bridges as the legendary character, The Dude! No doubt people will start asking the original cast of the movie what’s going on with this as soon as they are next interviewed but in the meantime, have a watch of the below just after the one minute mark.

Top marks go to our pals at Bleeding Cool for somehow finding this interview!

We’d love to know your thoughts on a sequel so please tells us in the comments section below.

Both a re-imagining of the same source material that helped win John Wayne an Oscar and the first reunion between the Coens and Jeff Bridges since cult classic The Big Lebowski – there’s no denying that the release of True Grit is a hotly anticipated prospect. Yet never did we suspect, almost a full month before we UK dwellers have even had a chance to see the film, that the parodies would already be rolling in!

Indeed, whilst the Coen Brothers and Bridges’ last collaboration evoked the brilliantly convoluted plot twists of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, the fine people over at College Humour have given us reason to believe that their latest project may prove hard to follow for an entirely different reason.  Though we’re almost certain that it’s simply the magic of good editing and comedy subtitles that makes Bridges’ turn as Rooster Cogburn quite so incomprehensible, there’s no denying that the man likes a good mumble…

We can only hope that matters seem slightly more intelligible when True Grit hits our screens on February 11th.

It may not have been a winner critically (43% on Rotten Tomatoes) but The Green Hornet topped the US box office this weekend with $33m. Given the time of year (this is when Hollywood starts to trundle out its lukewarm product) this result is a modest successful for Rogen and Co.

Ron Howard’s new comedy The Dilemma debuts in second place with a below-par $17m. Given that it star’s A-lister Vince Vaughan and with Howard’s box office touch (he managed a score a domestic gross of over $217m for the turgid ‘Da Vinci Code’), this is a big disappointment.

True Grit rounds out the top three with a very impressive tally so far of $127m. Having made over $50m more than No Country for Old Men’s total box office, it’s by far the Coen Brother’s biggest money-maker to date, which is an extremely positive result for these idiosyncratic filmmakers. It’s the kind of success which pretty much gives them carte blanche in terms of what they want to do next, although they’ve always done their own thing, with scant regard to box office figures.

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo.

Well, yes. Obviously. I’m pretty sure that almost any film you could name (especially as widely discredited a turkey as Jonah Hex) would benefit from being directed by the Coen brothers. Josh Brolin of course worked with the Coens to considerable acclaim on No Country For Old Men and now has their fresh adaptation of True Grit lined up for imminent release. Clearly he loves working with them, though the fact that so many actors work with them over and over suggests that he is far from alone in that.

On publicity duties for True Grit, Brolin said that he preferred this western to Jonah Hex and felt it was a better film. We can only hope so, otherwise this would be a considerable dip in form for the Coens. He went on to say that he wishes the Coens had directed Jonah Hex:-

“I wish the Coen Brothers would’ve done Jonah Hex. I made a lot of other calls, but I didn’t make that one — to my chagrin, for sure.”

As long ago as on the release of The Big Lebowski, Empire Magazine said that “in a perfect world all movies would be made by the Coen brothers”. Brolin clearly agrees, but what do you think? Is he being disrespectful to Jimmy Hayward, director of Jonah Hex? Was Jonah Hex unfairly derided? Do you think the Coen brothers are over-rated? Comment below.

Source: MTV

The director Michael Hoffman has chosen his next project after leaving his Oscar nominated film The Last Station behind  and fans of The Coens will be delighted to see their script of the remake of the 1966 Michael Caine/Shirley MacLaine thriller Gambit come to fruition.

The script has been doing the rounds for years in Hollywood (Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley were due to star at one point) but now Hoffman is firmly attached and will begin casting soon, with shooting to begin in London next year.

The original focused on the misadventures of two criminals (Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine) involved in an elaborate heist to steal a priceless antiquity from the world’s richest man. Of course being, both of them, pretty and young, things do wrong as love enters on the scene and chaos, cavorting and ‘capering’ ensues.

Sounds like pinches of To Catch a Thief, Vertigo and Bonnie and Clyde as told by… well, by The Coens, whose script has been around for a while, as has the production with Doug Liman attached at one point.

The words ‘comedy caper’ and ‘Coen’ usually go pretty well together, though their updating of the classic Ealing comedy The Ladykillers didn’t rent the a hole in the world with the force of positive reviews but if the Coens are involved then I’m interested. I’m not sure if I would have rather had them behind the camera but hey – Hoffman’s got a pretty eclectic and interesting filmography so I’m game.

Potential for a Michael Caine cameo? High.

Deadliney source-ry.

Anytime the Coen brothers set up shop we’re guaranteed for a fun time, and the trailers and posters seen so far for their next, True Grit, point to another beautifully shot film.

Hailee Steinfeld leads the film which reunites the Coens with Jeff Bridges and Josh Brolin and brings in Matt Damon and Barry Pepper in this tale of Roosters and revenge.

Synopsis ahoy.

True Grit centres on Mattie Ross (Steinfeld), a young girl who acquires the assistance of aging, drunken U.S. Marshal Rooster J. Cogburn (Bridges) and young Texas Ranger, La Boeuf (Damon) to track down her father’s killer, Tom Chaney (Brolin), who has taken to a gang led by “Lucky” Ned Pepper (Pepper).

Here are the images,

USA Today via The Playlist comprised the internet centipede that bought you these.

Only five days ago, the first trailer for True Grit hit the Internet , then a poster and literally moments ago, Paramount have sent us the the second, full length theatrical trailer for the movie which shows us a little more footage.

True Grit is directed by The Coen Brothers and boasts an excellent cast which includes Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Matt Damon, and El Duderino.

Synopsis:.

True Grit centres on Mattie Ross (Steinfeld), a young girl who acquires the assistance of aging, drunken U.S. Marshal Rooster J. Cogburn (Bridges) and young Texas Ranger, La Boeuf (Damon) to track down her father’s killer, Tom Chaney (Brolin), who has taken to a gang led by “Lucky” Ned Pepper (Pepper).

True Grit is scheduled for release in the UK on January 14, 2011.

We’ve only seen a few images for the new Coen Brothers film, but the phrase ‘new Coen Brothers film’ is enough to get most people interested, and now we’ve got our first look at True Grit with a trailer released a few moments ago.

The cast is another classic Coen ensemble, with Josh Brolin, Matt Damon and El Duderino himself Jeff Bridges all eyepatched up, and while this isn’t as quirky as the trailer for their last film, it’s a perfectly pitched tease for Coen fans. There are some truly beautiful shots in this one.

Synopsis please.

True Grit centres on Mattie Ross (Steinfeld), a young girl who acquires the assistance of aging, drunken U.S. Marshal Rooster J. Cogburn (Bridges) and young Texas Ranger, La Boeuf (Damon) to track down her father’s killer, Tom Chaney (Brolin), who has taken to a gang led by “Lucky” Ned Pepper (Pepper).

Apple have it in shiny HD, if you want to indulge youself.

Cinematical have posted an exclusive poster for Down Terrace, an upcoming family-orientated crime comedy. Directed by first-timer Ben Wheatley and starring Robin Hill, Julia Deakin, Rupert Hill and Sara Dee; the UK production has won awards at both Raindance and the Boston Independent Film Festival.

Synopsis: After serving jail time for a mysterious crime, Bill and Karl get out of jail and become preoccupied with figuring out who turned them in to the police. On top of that, the “family business” is on the rocks, and the motley crew of criminals who operate out of Down Terrace aren’t feeling terribly trusting of one another. It might look like an ordinary house, but at Down Terrace, the walls are closing in…

Ben Wheatley’s directing style has been compared to the likes of Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and The Coen Brothers, making this a UK crime comedy worth a viewing.

Check out the poster below:

Down Terrace currently has a US release date of August 13, 2010, whereas it’s already out on DVD in the UK.

It’s Friday, we all know that you dont want to be doing work so why not spend 10 minutes on our wonderful quiz looking that the lives of The Coen Brothers? Below, we have 10 questions that you’ll love if you’re a fan (or even not a fan) of the Coen Brothers’ work.

Their latest movie, A Serious Man is released on Blu Ray and DVD this Monday and we currently have a competition where you can win a copy of this awesome movie on Blu Ray. Click here to enter or check out our review of the movie here. If you want even more then we can oblige as we have an exclusive look at A Serious Man from behind the scenes which you can see here.

So, this Friday, pass this onto your friends and get playing in your offices around the world, then roll on the weekend!

The Coen’s latest film was a surprise hit of last year and has garnered deserved praise for its wit and outstanding central performance from Michael Stuhlbarg.

I was lucky enough to catch this at the London  Film Festival last year, and if you can read my take here. It’s another wonderful film from the Coens, and one that will continue to reward with multiple viewings, and we’re giving three lucky readers the chance to win a copy of the film on Blu Ray

A SERIOUS MAN is available to own on Blu-ray and DVD from 15^th March. Academy Award®-winning directors* Joel and Ethan Coen return to their comedy roots with this original and darkly humorous story about one ordinary man’s quest to become a serious man.

Synopsis: Physics professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) can’t believe his life: His wife is leaving him for his best friend. His unemployed brother won’t move off the couch. Someone is threatening his career. His kids are a mystery, and his neighbour is tormenting him by sunbathing nude. Struggling to make sense of it all, Larry consults three different rabbis and their answers lead him on a twisted journey of faith, family, delinquent behaviour and mortality.

Click here to watch the trailer

To celebrate the release of A SERIOUS MAN we’re giving away 3 copies of the film on Blu-Ray. To be in with a chance of winning, simply answer the following question…

What is Larry Gopnik’s profession in A SERIOUS MAN?

1. PE teacher
2. Physics professor
3. Gynecologist

Use the form below to enter.

The small print:

• This competition is open to the UK only.
• Only one entry per household will be counted.
• The competition will close Monday 15th March (release date) at 23.59 GMT.
• The winners will be picked at random from entries received.

The usual T&Cs can be found here.

We’ve watched as an amazing cast gravitates to the new film by the Coen Bros. Variety today reported Paramount’s chosen release date for the Brothers’ remake of True Grit and it’s an extra Christmas present for our US friends as the film will open in cinemas in an Oscar-friendly December 25th 2010.

Golden Globe winner for his turn in Crazy Heart Jeff Bridges will reunite with The Coens, taking on the iconic role of Rooster Cogburn, with Matt Damon and Josh Brolin expected to take their place in what promises to be another fine turn in the Coen’s road.

Following the understated, suburban malaise of A Serious Man I can’t wait to see the Coens return to the barren landscapes.

A Serious Man is the Coen brothers’ darkest comedy to date and perhaps their most personal film, set as it is in the Jewish-America suburbia of Minnesota in the 1960s. Their purposefully erratic filmography is a definite advantage as with most Coen films there is no indication of which direction the wild wind will blow, and Larry Gopnik (played by Michael Stuhlberg) has very rough weather to contend with, to prove he is a serious man.

Larry is a physics professor seeking tenure, and when we meet him we quickly see the fruits of his labour are rotting in the sun-soaked suburban sprawl of middle America. His family is a mess, with his chronically sick brother Arthur sleeping on the couch, conducting deep mathematical investigations to aid his secret gambling habit, his son’s bar mitzvah’s is approaching and only his confiscated pocket radio, the TV aerial and a burgeoning marijuana habit on his mind, a failing student attempts to bribe him and his wife wants to discuss their imminent divorce. This all happens in the first ten minutes of the film. And things only get worse for Larry.

The Coens have hidden complex questions on the nature of faith, mortality and the constant onslaught of meaningless adversity that befalls us, in amongst some beautifully observed and truly hilarious vignettes. It is their trademark oddness which elevates this story and the prologue, a small piece of folklore with a Grimm twist in its tale (told entirely in Yiddish), is a suitable introduction to the inventiveness and confidence of the Coens. A Serious Man is a film about staring into the abyss and hearing a deafening, endless silence.

The characters are where the Coens excel, and their films guarantee unique, memorable personalities and this film, though it centres primarily on Stuhlberg’s character, has a brilliant cast which populate Larry’s social and emotional disintegration. His wife’s lover is a fantastically outsized Coen creation called Sy Ableman (yet another perfectly named character), whose deep, hypnotising drawl is a masterpiece of passive aggressive behaviour and Larry, in his moral quagmire, is no match. Of course, this being a Coen brothers film, the unexpected chaos comes quickly to Sy, and the twisting gale of calamity which orbits Larry closer and closer gathers pace until he is forced to finally make a decision. Once he does, and all the pieces of this particularly diabolic puzzle are in place, the film cannons out another volley of curveballs and the film ends on a beautiful and necessary note.

There is no order in the chaos of Larry’s life, no answers or reassuring moral messages from the succession of Rabbi Larry consults. The story of the Goy’s teeth is a perfect and hilarious illustration of the meaningless of asking questions in order to get answers. Larry, standing on his roof to fix his TV aerial has the unlooked for advantage of a new perspective over his everyday suburbia, and just as we think he’s making progress he is distracted and entranced by his neighbour sunbathing nude. Larry’s only absolute understanding is of the Uncertainty Principle, writ large in oversized detail on his classroom blackboard. This is entirely in keeping with the confusing nature of the film, as is the moment when the ghost of a main character rams Larry’s face into the blackboard again and again and again.

A Serious Man is not so much a love letter to the Coen’s past as a fabulist reworking of remembered scenes and tall tales, dysfunctional families and mass of meshugas (and that’s enough Yiddish from a Goy like me”¦). It is a rich and esoteric film of impeccable detail and many cruel laughs. The Coens have become masters of the unexpected and have made a personal and mature film that sparkles with enough inherent brilliance to make it worth your time.

As a final note, in case you missed it, I wanted to include the outstanding trailer for A Serious Man which is as sublime and original as befits a Coen brothers film. Check it out below and there is an excellent article here on the creation of this piece of work, which is considered by many to be the best trailer of the year.

The Coens track record of attracting star names to their upcoming projects is testament their cinematic capability and the fact that so many actors want to work with them. After announcing that Jeff Bridges will be starring in their remake of the 1969 John Wayne vehicle True Grit, about a U.S. Marshall (the role marked out for Bridges) who is joined by a Lawman in his hunt for the killer of a young girl’s father, deep in Indian terrority. Matt Damon is in talks to play the lawman who accompanies Bridges character, splendidly named Rooster Cogburn, and Josh Brolin is talking to the Coens to return to the fold as the killer they hunt.

Given the incredible reaction to their modern Western, the Oscar winning adaptation of No Country for Old Men, it is not hard to seen the appeal of The Coen’s next venture, and we’ll be keeping an expectant eye on this one.