STACK #235 May 2024

MOVIE FEATURE

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Fun facts about the Coen Brothers Joel Coen worked as an assistant editor on Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981). The brothers co-wrote Sam Raimi’s second film, Crimewave (1985). Other films they have written but not directed include: Bad Santa (2003), Unbroken (2014), Bridge of Spies (2015), and Suburbicon (2017). Joel Coen is married to actress Frances McDormand,

who has starred in nine of the brothers’ films, including her

Oscar-winning performance in Fargo (1996). They have had the rare privilege of “final cut” on all of their films, since their debut Blood Simple (1984).

Buscemi and Peter Stormare’s characters in 1996 Coen Brothers flick Fargo . We put this to Ethan, who suspects it was a subliminal parallel. ”It was certainly not conscious,” he admits, casting his mind back to the double Oscar winning film. ”You can’t escape yourself, I guess! Joey and C.J. are old friends of each other, and of mine, and so it was pure pleasure doing their scenes.” Tricia interjects with a cheeky grin: ”This is the third movie that Ethan’s made with two guys sitting in cars talking.” ”Is it?” Ethan replies. ”I mean, Fargo , The Big Lebowski ...” she says, with the kind of laughter that only a wife can give her husband. ”I mean, we tried to make it different enough.” Drive-Away Dolls is very much aimed at a young audience, and given the fact that the project has been gestating with Ethan and Tricia for 20 years, we wondered if their approach to writing these two 20-something women has changed over the years, on account of evolving social norms and attitudes. As the pair look at each other curiously, Tricia recalls first writing the script. ”When we wrote it, I certainly was closer to the age of the characters,” she offers, before casting a jibe at her husband. ”Not Ethan, though. Ethan’s always been old! But, yeah, it felt more appropriate in the early 2000s for me to write

The legendary Coen Brothers partnership ended in 2019, but this year Ethan Coen has marked his feature directorial debut with the hysterical lesbian road trip movie Drive-Away Dolls . Words Glenn Cochrane C o-written with Coen’s wife Tricia Cooke, the movie is a quirky cross-country escapade about two young, gay women

who lease the wrong hire car and are chased by a pair of inept criminals in pursuit of a briefcase that’s hidden in the boot. It will come as no surprise to anyone who sees the film that Drive-Away Dolls is not its legitimate title - it was originally called Drive Away Dykes . Chatting with STACK , Ethan and Tricia explain their frustration at having it re-titled. ”In our minds, it’s still the title,” says Ethan wryly, before laughing, ”I mean that title is in the movie: Drive-Away Dykes !” ”It was the only title we used,” agrees Tricia. ”It was an impractical title,” admits Ethan, ”because some theatre chains just won’t book it and put it on their marquees. And, actually, the MPAA - which passes on the content - sort of sanctions your title, and I don’t think they would

Tricia Cooke and Ethan Coen

have approved it. So, yeah, it was a practical impossibility. So, sadly, we went with Drive Away Dolls .” But don’t let that directorial disappointment deter you, because Ethan and Tricia do issue a proverbial one-finger salute to the advertised title within the film. If you’re a fan of the Coen Brothers, then Drive-Away Dolls proves that there isn’t

necessarily much to lament over the siblings’ split, because the movie recaptures the spirit of their classic films with echoes of past works woven throughout Take the characters of the pursuing henchmen, for example. Brilliantly played by an unrecognisable Joey Slotnick ( Nip/ Tuck ) and C.J. Wilson ( The Sinner ), they bear the hallmarks of Steve

it, because I was in my thirties. But the script didn’t change at all. It skewed younger when we started casting. ”Then after we made it, we thought, ’Oh, we made Porky ’s,’” she says facetiously. ”We’ve made a teen comedy, which I don’t know that we were

• Drive-Away Dolls is out May 29

Geraldine Viswanathan, Margaret Qualley, and Beanie Feldstein

expecting, but there ya go!”

26 MAY 2024

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