Get to Know Chad and Harry from the Coens' 'Burn After Reading'

Well, I'm about ready for Burn After Reading. The new Coen Brothers idiot comedy - their third such venture with George Clooney - will hit the Venice Film Festival before debuting here in the states, and every minute of footage I've seen in trailers and in these two new featurettes from Trailer Addict seem to confirm what I suspected: Joel and Ethan Coen are completely back on their game. I worried about them in the early part of this decade, with movies like Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers masquerading as comedies, and by looking outside and adapting another writer's novel (they had previously only remade screenplays or done original scripts), they struck gold with No Country for Old Men.That film, as brilliant as it is, doesn't have a lot in common with the dark comedies that by and large constitute the brothers' best work. So this film, about a missing file, blackmail, the CIA, and yes, idiots, finds them back in their most natural environment. Burn After Reading stars Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand. That's quite a collection of talent. And those are only the headliners.

Here are two featurettes about Chad (Mr. Pitt) and Harry (Mr. Clooney).

Burn After Reading officially opens in the U.S. on September 12th.

Comments

[The Rub]

I have officially been sold on this movie.

[Lengthy Johnson]

Nice to see that the Coens are putting comedy back in the mix. For a while they lost it, then they threw it out the window and now they seem to have got it back.