Universal have released the “international trailer” for Burn After Reading. It is pretty much the same as the one we’re used to but has a couple of new shots and different music. Watch it on Yahoo! here.

Honestly, I simply cannot wait to see this. The more little bits I see the funnier it looks!

Thanks to Black for mailing the link in.

Comedian and actor Bernie Mac has passed away aged 50. Mac appeared in the Coen brothers produced Bad Santa. He died due to “complications arising from pneumonia”. RIP.

The more I see of this the more I want to see!

Follow this link right here, or watch them below to see two character trailers for Burn After Reading. One focusing on Brad Pitt’s Chad Feldheimer, the other on George Clooney’s Harry Pfarrer. Funny as hell. Go! Go now, whatchoo waiting for?

Thanks to Blake for the tip.

YKFK reader Sarah is trying out to be an extra on the Coen brothers forthcoming movie, A Serious Man. She has been through the first session already and has written a little something about the experience. She has also said that she will update me as she goes through the process. Over to you, Sarah…

“Today I went to a casting call for the Coen brothers’ next film, “A Serious Man.” It is about a Midwestern Jewish family in 1967.

I arrived at the casting call about a half hour after it had began. One of the requirements for the call was to bring a photograph of yourself taken on the day of the shoot. Fortunately, I have a photo printer at home and could quickly print one out rather than wait an additional hour for pick them up at a Walgreens or Target. Unfortunately, I live alone so I spent about 45 minutes doing a trial-and-error photo session with the automatic timer, holding it up in front of my face, etc. There are about 20 photos strewn about my kitchen table destined for the trash. The rejects, so to speak.

Anyway, because of this requirement, there were a lot less people than I expected when I walked in. I’m thinking most people will be getting there later in the day, as the casting call was open from 11 am to 6 pm.

When I first walked in to the nondescript building (which I believe has been rented out as the production offices, as I saw a couple doors with signs saying “SET DRESSING” and things of that nature), a man at a desk greeted me and a few others who had walked in in front of me. He handed us each a form and a two-page description of the film, what they were looking for, requirements/expectations of being an extra, etc. He said to read it as if we being tested on it.

My next step was to take my forms to a table and get to filling them out! I filled out my contact information, age, previous experience as an extra and/or stand-in (6 movies as an extra for me), any conflicts between the shooting dates of Sept. 8 and Nov. 14 (none!), and then detailed info about my physical characteristics, including height, weight, hair color, eye color, dress and shoe sizes, and bust, waist and hips measurements. I had to check a box saying I was willing to alter/cut my hair.

I then checked out the two-page info sheet, containing your basic info on being an extra for all the newbies (you WILL work at least 12 hour days and MUST be there the whole time, you must be QUIET, etc.). There was a big section on NO CAMERAS, NO AUTOGRAPHS, NO TALKING TO CAST/CREW. In my movie extra experience, there is always some nut who thinks they can photograph and/or make friends with the stars. It’s always an adult, too. Idiots. In a high-profile film like this with A-list people, this info is especially important to people who have never done this before.

An interesting part of this film is the physical requirements of the extras. I never thought my dark Italian hair and light Irish skin would pay off! Here are some of the requirements:

Men, Women, and Kids: No artificial/extreme tans, no frosted/highlighted/lowlighted hair, no asymmetrical, punk, overly modern hairstyles. Most extras will be BRUNETTES so no beachy or bleached blondes. No visible tattoos or facial piercings. Most men will need to be clean-shaven. No braces. No breast implants–women wore bullet bras and girdles, which all female extras must be willing to wear. We LOVE interesting faces. Big noses a plus!

So after I read up on the rules and details, I went over to a second guy who made sure my photo was okay (if it wasn’t, they would retake one for you) and attached it to my form.

I was then moved to a line where yet another guy looked over the form to make sure it was complete. He also seemed to be weeding out people with major conflicts, as a woman in line in front of me had to go talk to someone at a table when it was discovered she’d be out of town at some point. She was a blonde anyway so I’m thinking she was destined for the reject pile.

After that was approved I went to a room where people waited in lines of 10. A short wait ensued (wherein a guy behind me attempted to make a couple Coen film jokes–i.e., I heard something about a woodchipper) and then my group of 10 was taken to a room where a young guy went over all the information on the sheet and answered any questions we had. He mentioned we all have to have MN id cards to get paid (woohoo! I’ve only been paid for 1 film). We gave him our forms and were done! Easy as pie!

They don’t know when we will find out if we’ve been cast in the film, but they *think* they are trying to get everyone cast and set in specific scenes before shooting commences on Sept. 8. However, we could be called anytime during filming, so hopefully I’m not in for too long of a wait to hear!”

Good luck to you Sarah, I really hope you land the job!

Very sorry if that headline led you to believe that there was an official Coen brothers podcast alas- there is not. This is a podcast put together by a movie blog called Cue The Film. Basically it is in the form of a free flowing conversation between a bunch of friends about each of the Coen’s movies in turn. Some of the people involved seem to be on Skype so the audio quality isn’t the best, it drops out a lot. If you’re a regular reader of YKFK you are unlikely to learn anything new, but it’s a fun listen all the same.

Also, kudos for them name-dropping YKFK,

That’s right, Waring Hudsucker has hit the pavement in a whole new way!

Charles Durning the actor who played two memorable roles for the Coens, Waring Hudsucker in The Hudsucker Proxy and Pappy O’Daniel in O Brother, Where Art Thou? was added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday.

The veteran of World War II (during which he won three (count them- THREE!) Purple Hearts and a Silver Star) and over 100 movies said, “I never thought this would happen. This is one of the secret awards I wanted. I was hoping this would happen in my lifetime and it did.” He can put his plaque on the shelf next to his Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement award which he won in January.

His star is the 2,366th and puts him next to his hero James Cagney of whom he said, “Cagney was my favorite actor and favorite person. I met him once and he was very kind to me. I never got a chance to tell him what I thought, that he was my hero.”

Three cheers for Charles and here’s hoping he has many more movies in him. Hurrah!

Thanks to Juan on the forum for the notification.

I stumbled upon this posting over at a blog called AuditionAlerts.com. Basically this could interest you in one or two ways. Firstly if you’re a budding thesp and live in the Twin Cities Metro area in Minnesota, and/or you have an “interesting/strange face or nose” you are encouraged to audition for the below parts in the Coen’s forthcoming A Serious Man. Shame I’m not from there myself- I have a busted, bent, crooked nose but, hey-ho.

Secondly, this post could interest you in the way it did me- it spills the beans (a little) on what we can expect from the movie’s characters. Below are their names and casting call descriptions;

Sarah Gopnik: 16, Midwestern Jewish, typical teenager, thinks everyone is annoying, constantly leaving the house to meet friends, takes advantage of her parents, steals money, secretly saving up for a nose job.

Danny Gopnik: 12-13, Midwestern Jewish, studying for his bar mitzvah, self-centered, takes advantage of his father, owes money to a record company, uses the money he steals from his parents to buy drugs, in trouble with the drug-dealing bully at Hebrew school.

Ronnie Nudell: 12-13, Danny’s friend, always swearing, hard for him to say a sentence that doesn’t include the F-word, a real character role.

Fagle: 12-15, Midwestern Jewish bully, great face, large, tall, husky-looking preferred, easy to make out as a bully.

D’vorah: female, 12-13, speaks or knows a little Hebrew, a know-it-all.

Mar King: late 60s-early 70s, gray hair, teacher, speaks Hebrew.

Natalie : 50-65, Caucasian, works at a university as a secretary in the physics department.

Mel Nudell: early 40s, Midwestern Jewish-looking, married to Mimi, close friends with Larry.

Marshak’s Secretary: 60s-70s, Eastern European-looking, Jewish.

Doctor Shapiro: late 40s-early 50s, Midwestern Jewish, a nice member of the community.

Don Milgram’s Secretary: 50s-60s, works in a law office.

Two Cops: 40s-50s, Caucasian, Minnesotan, very “goy,” good faces.

Detectives: 40s-50s, warn Uncle Arthur that he will be arrested again if he gambles, Minnesotan, “goy,” good faces.

I think it’s safe to say now that this movie, A Serious Man, is DEFINITELY the Coen’s follow up to Burn After Reading.