Another Coens soundtrack

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 4:58 pm

Sounds like another good Coen Brothers soundtrack is on teh way for their next film, The Ladykillers.

Here's the Billboard.com article:

Nappy Roots Sing Gospel For 'Ladykillers'

Nappy Roots contribute new versions of two traditional Gospel favorites on the soundtrack to "The Ladykillers." Due March 23 via DMZ/Columbia, the album also features contributions from Carter Burwell, Little Brother, Donnie McClurkin, the Lighthouse Choir, the Soul Stirrers and Blind Willie Johnson, among others.

Nappy Roots' "Comin' Home" featuring Cee-Lo will be the set's first single and is scheduled to arrive next week at U.S. radio outlets. The group also offers its rendition of "Another Day Another Dollar" and is featured on Carter Burwell and Keefus' "Trouble."

The album was produced by DMZ's T Bone Burnett, who assembled the acclaimed soundtracks for "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and "Cold Mountain."

"The Ladykillers" stars Tom Hanks as Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III, a con man posing as a professor as he prepares to mastermind the biggest heist of his career. The Coen Brothers-directed film opens March 26 in U.S. theaters.

-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 5:03 pm

Anyone know who the co-conspirators are in this? In the original version with Alec Guinnes (sorry to keep spouting on about this film) Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom were in it...as was a young Frankie Howerd!

Ooh err missus!

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 5:06 pm

While the film is a remake of 1955, it's screenplay was written by Joel & Ethan Coen, and the characters all have different names. I'm not sure there are any co-conspirators in this film. I think it's just Tom Hanks and his helpers.

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 5:14 pm

OK...do you know who play them?

They seem to use a load of actors in all their films...are any of them in it? John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, et al....any of them?

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 5:18 pm

Sadly, the Coens have largely given up on their 'regulars.'

While they once frequently casted Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Jon Polito, John Turturro, and Frances McDormand in their films, many of these actors have not appeared in quite a while.

Steve Buscemi appeared in nearly every film the Coens made up until The Big Lebowski. It seems that with the death of Donny came the end of Buscemi and the Coens collaborative efforts. John Goodman and Turturro in O Brother Where Art Thou and Jon Polito and Frances McDormand in The Man Who Wasn't There, so there is hope that they will return at some point.

IMDB doesn't list a full cast as of yet, particularly in the way of character names, but here is what they have:

Cast (in credits order)

Tom Hanks .... Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III, Ph.D.
Marlon Wayans .... Gawain McSam
J.K. Simmons
Tzi Ma
Ryan Hurst

rest of cast listed alphabetically

Robert Baker .... Quarterback
Jennifer Echols .... Waitress
Greg Grunberg
Irma P. Hall .... Mrs. Munson
Walter K. Jordan .... Elron
Freda Foh Shen .... General's wife
George Wallace
Jason Weaver

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 7:23 pm

Personal trivia: the Coen Bros attended my miniscule (=300 student) college for a time... aren't you proud to know me now?

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 10:36 pm

I am proud to know you! I went to UCLA film school and the best name I can drop is Alison Anders! (Although there's a possibility that I once tried to cast Ben Stiller in my film...I think the bastard never returned my call!)

Also -- though I defer to no one in my respect for Mssrs. Turturro, Goodman and esp. Buscemi, JK Simonds is quite possibly on a par with that trio.

He's best known for playing the Nazi gang leader on "Oz" (which I've just seen a bit of, but even in tiny chunks Simonds impresses), he also played the vaguely sinister Dr. Emil Skoda for quite awhile on "Law & Order" -- his scenes were always exciting, even as the show as running out of steam -- and, my personal favorite, the perfect interpretation of the immortal J. Jonah Jameson from "Spiderman." I would have been happy if they'd decided to drop Spidey and made the whole movie about the troubles of a cranky, sensationalist newspaper editor! (Well, actually, they did, it was "His Girl Friday" and every other version of "The Front Page", but you know what I mean!)

Heard an interview with him on "Fresh Air" -- he's seems to bolster my personal theory that most actors known for playing creeps are usually sweethearts -- despite his tendency to play reptillian (or at least very grumpy) types, he's apparently a totally good natured guy and a fairly devout Christian. (His brother is a well known gospel singer.)

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 6:35 am

I agree with all you say about Simmonds, Bobster. He's one of those character actors who is always great, never mind what he's in. Other great actor in the same mould are the incomparable Ed Lauter and, may he rest in peace, the awesome JT Walsh. Anything they are, no matter how pedestrian they are, immediately get ratcheted up to a higher level when they come on. A sort of Donal McCann effect. Many times I saw him in fairly ropey plays at the Abbey and elsewhere. He was a masterclass in everthing he did, it must have been terrifying for whoever else was on stage with him.

Poppet · Post by **Poppet** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 11:26 am

this isn't really worthy of a post, but what the hell, when has *that* stopped me?

i love steve buscemi.

saw Desparado on tv this weekend (oh, antonio banderas was HOT. extremely HOT) and i was so PISSED that buscemi bought it so early in the film. NO! MORE Buscemi!

grrrrr.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 12:34 pm

Poppet wrote: i love steve buscemi.

He's an Elvis fan, you know! I saw him at the last Beacon show I was at-- he had a backstage pass and went in to to talk to The Man....

gadfly · Post by **gadfly** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 12:38 pm

I disagree that the Coen Brothers don't use their regulars anymore. I think they have a long list of regulars that has changed over time, and that they use them with reassuring regularity. It looks from the evidence below that Ladykillers will be the only film they've ever made that doesn't use their regulars. Frances McDormand (who's a Coen by marriage), Buscemei, Goodman, and Turturro were used more often than anyone. But only Buscemi was used several times in a row, and only two of those roles were large. Goodman and Turturro have appeared pretty recently, and John Polito surfaces pretty often as well.As recntly as their last film, theey were making use of at least three actors who had worked with them earlier. I think they're very loyal.

These are the Coen Brothers films:
1. Blood Simple
2. Raising Arizona
3. Miller's Crossing
4. Barton Fink
5. Hudsucker Proxy
6. Fargo
7. Big Lebowski
8. O Brother Where Art Thou
9. The Man Who Wasn't There
10. Intolerable Cruelty
11. Ladykillers

Here are actors who have appeared in prominent roles in more than one of their films:

Frances McDormand (1,2,3,6,9) :
Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Fargo, The Man Who Wasn’t There

M Emmet Walsh(1,2):
Blood Simple, Raising Arizona

William Preston Robertson(1,3,4):
Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink

Holly Hunter (1,2,8 ):
Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou?

John Goodman(2,4,5,7,8 ):
Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Hudsucker Proxy, Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou?

John Turturro(3,4,7,8 ):
Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou?

John Polito(3,4,5,9 ):
Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, Hudsucker Proxy, The Man Who Wasn’t There

Steve Buscemi(3,4,5,6,7):
Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, Big Lebowski

Sam Raimi(3,5):
Miller’s Crossing, Hudsucker Proxy

Tony Shalhoub(4,9 ):
Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn’t There

Charles Durning(5,8 ):
Hudsucker Proxy, O Brother Where Art Thou?

Bruce Campbell(5,6):
Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo

Peter Stormare(6,7):
Fargo, Big Lebowski

George Clooney(8,10):
O Brother Where Art Thou, Intolerable Cruelty

Billy Bob Thornton(9,10):
The Man Who Wasn’t There, Intolerable Cruelty

Richard Jenkins(9,10):
The Man Who Wasn’t There, Intolerable Cruelty

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 1:42 pm

Woah...gadfly, did you know that off by heart?

I bought (as I think Blue did too) the special edition Fargo, and it has a list of recurrent actors as a special feature...so I think it's something they are proud of.

gadfly · Post by **gadfly** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 1:52 pm

Mr. Crow you flatter me. But I use IMDB.com, just like everyone else.

My favorite Coen Bros. film is O Brother Where Art Thou. How about you guys? (Or maybe this has been addressed in a previous thread. I've lurked mostly, on and off).

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 1:58 pm

Big Lebowski closely followed by Miller's Crossing!

Post by **BlueChair** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 2:23 pm

gadfly wrote: John Polito(3,4,5,9 ):
Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, Hudsucker Proxy, The Man Who Wasn’t There

Thanks for the list, gadfly! But Jon Polito appears in The Big Lebowski, as DeFino, the Private Eye who follows Lebowski in his VW bug.

"I'm your brother Seamus!"

"What is that, an Irish monk?"

Also, John Goodman has a pretty large role in Barton Fink, which you left out from his list.

My favourite Coens film is The Big Lebowski, followed by O Brother, Where Art Thou?

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 5:25 pm

"I'm your brother Seamus!"

"What is that, an Irish monk?"

"It's like Lenin said: You look for the person who'll benefit...erm.."

"I am the walrus?"

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 12:02 am

I suspect the Coen brothers are sort of playing around (but not fully committed) the idea of a "stock company."

Preston Sturges -- clearly a major influence on them -- featured some actors in nearly all of his movies. For example, I think William Demarest (aka "Uncle Charly" from "My 3 Sons") was in all of his films except, maybe, one or two. In fact, a Preston Sturges movie isn't really complete until Demarest arrives.

Also, John Ford used as many actors as he could from movie to movie -- people like Ward Bond, Harry Carey, Jr. and lots and lots of others....

gadfly · Post by **gadfly** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:29 am

BlueChair wrote:

Also, John Goodman has a pretty large role in Barton Fink, which you left out from his list.

I missed John Polito, but I think you might need to check yer eyesight about John Goodman. Barton Fink is named and numbered on my list by Goodman's name.

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 4:05 pm

gadfly wrote:
BlueChair wrote:

Also, John Goodman has a pretty large role in Barton Fink, which you left out from his list.

I missed John Polito, but I think you might need to check yer eyesight about John Goodman. Barton Fink is named and numbered on my list by Goodman's name.

Oops, guess I was just looking at the numbers for some reason.

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 4:55 pm

Here's an update on the Ladykillers soundtrack, produced as always by Elvis's brother T-Bone Burnett.

Burnett, Coen Bros. Reteam For 'Ladykillers'

As they did for "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and "The Big Lebowski," filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen turned to producer T Bone Burnett to select appropriate music for their latest film. The resulting soundtrack to "The Ladykillers," due March 23 from DMZ/Columbia/Sony Music, is based in gospel music, and explores the genre through vintage and new recordings.

"'The Ladykillers' features a combination of gospel music, hip-hop music and baroque chamber music," Joel Coen says. "That's actually one of the things that's been very interesting about this project."

"I've heard all my life that rock and roll was born from gospel music, but it wasn't until I went back and listened to the whole canon of gospel from the last century that I realized -- it really did all come from gospel," Burnett explains. "So what we've done is to go back and rediscover some of the great gospel music that people have left behind -- the Soul Stirrers, Bill Landford and the Landfordaires, Blind Willie Johnson."

Like the "O Brother" set -- which reached No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 6.6 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan -- "The Ladykillers" features different renditions of some of the same songs. For instance, the set opens with the Soul Stirrers' version of "Come, Let Us Go Back to God," which is later revised by contemporary Christian artist Donnie McClurkin.

Similarly, Langford's traditional "Trouble of This World" and Johnson's "Let Your Light Shine On Me," are revisited by a combination of Rose Stone, the Venice Four and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir.

Southern hip-hop act Nappy Roots also contributes a new version of "Trouble of This World (Comin' Home)," as well as a reworking of "Another Day Another Dollar," in addition to the song "Trouble In, Trouble Out." Each track on the soundtrack can be sampled at the film's official Web site.

Starring Tom Hanks as Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III, Ph.D., "The Ladykillers" is the Coens' remake of the 1955 black comedy of the same name. Also featuring Marlon Wayans, J.K. Simmons, Tzi Ma, Ryan Hurst and Irma P. Hall, the film is set to open March 26 in U.S. theaters.

Here is the full "Ladykillers" soundtrack list:

"Come, Let Us Go Back to God," the Soul Stirrers
"Trouble of This World (Coming Home)," Nappy Roots
"Let Your Light Shine On Me," the Venice Four With Rose Stone and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir
"Another Day, Another Dollar," Nappy Roots
"Jesus I'll Never Forget," the Soul Stirrers
"Trouble In, Trouble Out," Nappy Roots
"Trouble of This World," Bill Landford & the Landfordaires
"Come, Let Us Go Back to God, " Donnie McClurkin
"Weeping Mary," Rosewell Sacred Harp Quartet
"Sinners," Little Brother
"Troubled, Lord I'm Troubled," Bill Landford & the Landfordaires
"You Can't Hurry God," Donnie McClurkin
"Any Day Now," the Soul Stirrers
"Trouble of This World," Rose Stone with the Venice Four and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir
"A Christian's Plea," Claude Jeter and the Swan Silvertones
"Let Your Light Shine On Me," Blind Willie Johnson
"Let the Light From the Lighthouse Shine On Me," the Venice Four with Rose Stone and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir
"Yes," the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir featuring Kristle Murden

-- Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:54 pm

That looks great. I don't think the Coens have made anything but great films. And they use music beautifully.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:58 pm

BlueChair wrote:Similarly, Langford's traditional "Trouble of This World" and Johnson's "Let Your Light Shine On Me," are revisited by a combination of Rose Stone, the Venice Four and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir.

This one rates my special attention for local interest as a graduate of Venice High School (which makes me a "Gondolier"). I've never heard of the Venice Four or the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir before, but they're clearly quite local to my old West L.A. stomping grounds. Abbot Kinney is the name of the insane fellow who decided that beachside neighborhood south of Santa Monica should be a replica of Venice, Italy and there's a street named after him there.

Actually, Venice remains a nifty little multicultural enclave despite some insanely high rents and property values.

Go Gondos! "Rowing, Not Drifting" (Venice High School slogan)

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 3:46 am

Did you hear that Tom Hanks has come out and critiscised the film? I can't find it online, but it was along the lines of.... 'I don't think it was an inspired script rather just something the Coens knocked out, and it pales in comparson to one of the great film of the british black and white era'

Well, Ladykillers original isn't in black and white...but it seems like someone's throwing his toys out the pram.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:31 pm

Sure doesn't sound like the words of Hollywood's most beloved team players.

Seriously, there is probably no more widely liked celebrity than Tom Hanks -- seemingly everyone, including our own Mr. Average, has a "what a great guy Tom Hanks really is" story. And badmouthing (or perhaps just mediocre-mouthing) a movie as it's about to open is something that could quickly reverse that image. It's simply not done...unless you're in serious "bad-boy" mode.

If he really did say that, I'm sure there's a helluva story behind it. (Perhaps he was quoted off the record or something.)

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 3:23 pm

bobster wrote:It's simply not done...

It's unheard of!