The final entry in the Coens’ “Idiot Tetralogy” looks like a fever dream.
Blood Simple. O Brother, Where Art Thou?. No Country For Old Men, Fargo, and Raising Arizona. In the 31-odd years that the Coen brothers have been making films, it would be hard to pick even one entry in their canon that was anything less than spectacular. But with the trailer for Hail, Caesar! which dropped earlier today, it looks like they might have finally outdone themselves. In a good way.
Reteaming with Where Art Thou‘s George Clooney in the lead role of Baird Whitlock — a dim witted, charming, “George Clooney” type — and bringing a whole mix of incredible faces into the mix, Hail, Caesar comes off like a cross between a Wes Anderson film and…I dunno…Bowfinger, maybe? Either way, it’s already jumped to the top of my “Must See” list.
The official synopsis comes to us via the trailer’s Youtube page:
Four-time Oscar®-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Fargo) write and direct Hail, Caesar!, an all-star comedy set during the latter years of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum, Hail, Caesar! follows a single day in the life of a studio fixer who is presented with plenty of problems to fix.
My God, dat cast. Here I thought Triple 9 boasted the greatest ensemble of any movie in recent memory, then this thing comes along and slaps me right in my big dumb brain. Brolin, Fiennes, Swinton, ScarJo, the ever-shapeshifting Jonah Hill…I can only nerd so far out, is what I’m saying.
As for the film itself, I like Vince Mancini’s description of it the best, “an entire movie that looks like the dream sequence in Big Lebowski.” Considering that Hail, Caesar! will mark the first time that Lebowski cinematographer Roger Deakins will be working alongside the Coens since True Grit, it’s hard not to see the influence at the very least.
Hail, Caesar! opens February 5th, 2016. Head over to the movie’s official website to learn more.
