Ethan Coen Teases 'Full-On' Horror Film and Other Projects That Probably Won't Happen

Empire Magazine hosted a web chat with the Ethan half of the Coen Brothers yesterday, in which he said that "We're working on a couple of scripts now; one of which it would be fair to call a full-on horror movie." So of course "Coen Brothers May do a Horror Film" should be popping up all over the place on your RSS feed. Right. They also may work with Sam Raimi and may make a sequel to True Grit. Maybe a third of the webchat questions actually involved rumored projects, and many of the answers seem to have been typed with Coen's tongue firmly planted in his cheek. So yes, here's a rundown of everything Coen said about project rumors, but keep grains of salt at the ready. After all, this is one of the guys who also said Fargo was based on a true story.

Daryn says: Now that cinema tastes seemed to have changed and audiences seem more open to arthouse and experimental movies, is there any chance we will ever see your adapation of To The White Sea?

Oh no. We worked on it with a producer named Richard Roth, and Jeremy Thomas. They're both great - Jeremy came very close to getting us the budget, which was large given the nature of the movie. But he came up short even with Brad Pitt doing the movie for free. So if we failed under those circumstances I don't know that we'll ever succeed. Also, Brad's too old now.

J.D. DRUMPELLIER says: Would you ever consider making a horror film? I know you've dabbled with classic genre horror imagery in Blood Simple and the like, but would you ever consider just making an all-out horror picture in the same vein as Raising Arizona is an all-out farcical comedy?

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.

TaraReid says: Hi Ethan! When are we starting filming on Lebowski 2? My agent apparently knows nothing but I still have the job don't I?

This was in the US press - Tara Reid announcing Lebowski 2. George Clooney periodically announces a movie called Hail Caesar that we're apparently going to do with him. And John Turturro's been after us for years to do a movie focused on his character in The Big Lebowski, the paedophile.

James Barrett says: Is there a possibility that you may remake the sequel to True Grit (Rooster Cogburn, 1975) in the future?

Yes, if we can get Cate Blanchett to do the Katharine Hepburn part. We're in negotiations with her people.

Finkblot says: Joel, have you considered working with Sam Raimi once again? Hudsucker Proxy was a revelation, and Crimewave was insane!

No, Sam's too busy. We're game. We're in negotiations with his people.

Buddy says: Do you still plan on doing an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Cuba Libre or have you already satisfied your appetite for Westerns?

Oh, we did do a script of that but it was just a writing job, many years ago when the book came out. But it wasn't something for us to make.

Marmotman says: Any plans on going into a big-dollar TV series a la Spielberg, Bruckheimer etc? Even if not, any old TV shows either side of the pond that you'd like to remake?

No, hadn't thought about it.

Finkblot says: What will your next project be? Gambit? Old Fink? Or something previously unannounced?

Gambit was also a writing job. It seems like the movie is going to get made but not by us; it never was to have been. [As for] 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. We don't really know what we're doing yet; we're working on a couple of scripts.

So yes, probably the most accurate headline for the web chat is along the lines of "Ethan Coen: 'We don't really know what we're doing yet.'" It's fun to dream though.

· Ethan Coen Webchat [Empire]



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