You read that right! A stage musical based on The Hudsucker Proxy!

The movie that this very site gets it’s strange name from has been made into a stage musical by Stephen A Weiner and Gelnn Slater and to be directed by Jerry Zaks. Apparently they’ve had the rights since 2001 and it’s taken this long to whip it into shape. It will play at the La Jolla Playhouse in California in June/July this year. It seems at the moment that they’re still in the process of casting it but you can already hear some songs from it over on Weiner’s website, go check ‘em out or, err, they’ll dock ya. From the songs it is obvious that the show will stick closely to the script. Could be fun.

Here’s the official blurb;

The Hudsucker Proxy, “a Page to Stage Workshop Production,” book and lyrics by Glenn Slater, music by Stephen A. Weiner, July/August 2009, Mandell Weiss Theatre. “When the CEO of Hudsucker Industries makes an abrupt and fatal exit from the company, the board of directors hatches a plot to drive their stock price down in order to buy up all the shares themselves. Enter Norville Barnes, a naive mailroom employee with a loopy new invention destined to fail, and a new Hudsucker CEO is born. Based on the Coen Brothers’ 1994 film, The Hudsucker Proxy is a delightfully dark musical fairy tale with an original score.” (Page To Stage productions are not open to critical review.)

In what should be really annoying news but is now something us movie lovers fully expect from the movie studios comes news that No Country For Old Men may see another, more feature-packed disc release. Apparenlty due out on April 7th in the US, the three-disc DVD and two-disc Blu-ray Collector’s Edition will feature the following extra features;

• The Making of No Country For Old Men
• NEW: ABC “Popcorn” Video
• NEW: Channel 4 News — Joel And Ethan Coen Appearance
• NEW: Lunch With David Poland — IKLIPZ — Javier Bardem And Josh Brolin Interview
• NEW: WNBC Reel Talk With Lyons & Bailes — Josh Brolin
• NEW: LA WGAW Q & A Panel
• NEW: Six Additional Audio Interviews
• NEW: Digital Copy
• Working With The Coens
• The Diary Of A Country Sheriff
• NEW: Josh Brolin’s Unauthorized Behind-The-Scenes
• NEW: Q & A With Joel And Ethan Coen, Roger Deakins And The Sound And Production Design Crews
• NEW: Charlie Rose Featuring Joel And Ethan Coen, Josh Brolin And Javier Bardem
• NEW: EW.com “Just A Minute…With Javier Bardem”
• NEW: VARIETY Screening Series Q & A
• NEW: Instore Appearance With Javier Bardem And Josh Brolin

Click it for a massive hi-res version. Spotted at Collider.com.

Focus Features have issued a press release outlining their 2009 slate. Included in said press release was their synopsis for the Coen brothers forthcoming slice of 60’s Jewish life, A Serious Man…

“Academy Award-winning writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man’s search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry’s unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny (Aaron Wolf) is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry’s chances for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a serious man? Filmed on location in Minnesota for Focus and Working Title Films, A Serious Man will open in limited release on October 2nd.”

The outrage!

Yep Burn After Reading has struck out entirely. Not a single Oscar nomination for the Coen brothers’ latest. Not even a little biddy Best Original Screenplay nod. The complete list of nominations for the 81st Academy Awards was announced this afternoon, David Finchers sumptuous looking The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leads the way with 13 nomination while Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire has amassed 10. Both The Dark Knight and Milk landed 8 apiece. Check out the full list here. Still, at least it means us Coen brothers fans need not endure the ceremony this year… no sour grapes honest…

BAFTA have announced the nominations for this year’s awards and Burn After Reading is up for three of ‘em. Perhaps the Coen brothers are getting bored of being nominated for Best Original Screenplay awards but they’ll have to contend with another. This along with Best Supporting Actor and Actress nominations for Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton respectively, makes three.

Focus Features have announced the US release date for the Coen’s next movie, A Serious Man. You lucky Americans can see it on a “limited release” on October 2nd!

Thanks, once again, to Bunnie!

Regular readers of You Know, For Kids! will know that the Coen brothers’ latest, Burn After Reading, was nominated in two categories at this year’s Golden Globes, well, it won neither! In the category of Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical it was beaten out by Woody Allen’s supposed return to form, Vicky Christina Barcelona while thew award for Best Performance by an Acress in a Comedy or Musical went to Sally Hawkins for her performance in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky beating Frances McDormand.

Boo!

Long time no post but it’s all gone quiet on the Coen front. Anyhoo no big spiel, just to let you know that Burn After Reading has been nominated in the category of Original Screenplay by the Writer’s Guild of America.