Read the Script for the Coen Brothers' 'A Serious Man'

I hope you've had a chance to see the trailer for A Serious Man, the next movie for Joel and Ethan Coen. It is certainly not like another trailer you've seen this year, which you should expect most of the time out of the Coens. One reason it migh not have been on your radar until this week is that unlike Burn After Reading, which filmed around the time the Coens were generating Oscar buzz for No Country for Old Men, there's no Clooney or Pitt this time around, they weren't shooting in a major metropolitan area, and there wasn't paparazzi coverage. With very rare exceptions, though, it is never the movie stars who make a movie great. What makes a film stand the test of time is the script. Always has been, always will be. The screenplay is the engine. Somehow, the visual effects of today will look outdated years from now, cameras will be even more high definition in a decade, actors will lose their luster, and pop culture references won't mean anything. But good writing is good writing, and it never ages. So because Joel and Ethan Coen are among the best film writers of their generation, it stands to reason that anytime they make a movie, it could be a classic, a movie you'll watch over and over and over again, because the things that are so good about it are the things that time never erodes. Will it be that way with A Serious Man? I dunno. Read the script and tell me. Coenbrothers.net has every one of the brothers' screenplays, at least as they were upon their WGA registration. Maybe a few things changed in the final shooting script. It's a great resource, so check it out.

Comments

[SEAN]

HEY THANKS COLIN GREAT POSTING BY THE WAY!!!

Iv always always believed your attitude as well, its always the script, that is the GOLD and makes GREAT movies stand the test of the time...

Iv always thought ACTORS are there meant to complement the script and bring it to life, but one can also say a great script is by itself alive

Stories and scripts are what should make hollywood go around...but instead its money, studio politics, and shitty actors..

Great post man thanks