SYNOPSIS: Academy Award®-winner Tom Hanks teams up for the first time with Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen (“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) for this retelling of the critically acclaimed 1955 comedy, “The Ladykillers.”  Hanks stars as Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III, Ph.D., a charlatan professor who’s assembled a gang of “experts” for the heist of the century.  The thieves: experts in explosions, tunneling, and muscle, and the critical “inside man.”  The base of operations: the root cellar of an unsuspecting, church-going little old lady named Mrs. Munson (IRMA P. HALL).  The ruse: the five need a place to practice their church music.  The problem:  it quickly becomes evident that Dorr’s thieves lack the mental capacity to do the job.  The bigger problem:  they have all seriously underestimated their upstairs host.

        When Mrs. Munson stumbles onto their plot and threatens to notify the authorities, the felonious five decide to do her in.  After all, how hard can it be to knock off one old lady?

NOTES: The Laykillers is a contemporary (despite Hanks' appearance) remake of 1955 Ealing Comedy of the same name starring Alec Guiness, Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom.

The movie opened in US cinemas on March 26th 2004 and had it's European premiere at the 57th Cannes Film Festival on 18th May 2004.

The character played by Irma P. Hall, Marva Munson, shares her name with the female judge from Intolerable Cruelty.

There is an interesting link between this movie and the Coen's debut feature, Blood Simple. The original 1955 version has long been a favourite of Joel and Ethan's, so much so that they borrowed a line from it and used it in Blood Simple. The line is "Who looks stupid now?" which was uttered by Loren Visser (M Emmet Walsh) in Blood Simple.

While it is common knowledge that directing and production duties are shared by the brothers Coen, The Ladykillers marks the first time that they both have a director and producer credit. Usually Joel takes credit for direcing while Ethan takes the producer tag. This initially started because during their debut movie Blood Simple they were fed up of reading their names over and over in the opening titles. This is the same reason that they invented Roderick Jaynes as their editor when everyone knows they edit themselves- it's good to see he has survived.

Hanks' character, Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr III Ph.D, is a huge fan of the work of Edgar Allan Poe and often launches into a heartfelt rendition of the poem, To Helen. You can read this poem by clicking here.

The Coens originally wrote the movie for Barry Sonnenfeld to direct but when he bowed out the Coens stepped in. But there was a moment of indecision when they were forced to think about the casting. "As we wrote it," Ethan says,"we didn't do our usual thing of thinking of actors who might do specific parts." And for some reason Hanks popped into their heads.

The movie came in $5m under budget and seven days early.

The bridge in the movie does not actually exist. It was created using a combination of miniatures and CGI, with the live action shot on a set.

Click here to read an article about the movie, including a short interview with Hanks.