Also on the Focus Features website is a revealing interview with Myles Bender, Senior Vice President of Creative Advertising at Focus Features, who oversaw the creative direction of the trailer for A Serious Man which was cut by Mark Woollen of Mark Woollen and Associates. He talks about the initial meeting with Joel and Ethan where they told him, “They wanted something ‘different, ‘Can you find one scene from the movie for our trailer and not do the traditional trailer structure?’ And then one of them said, ‘Maybe just show the guy getting his head bashed in for 30 seconds.’ I took that suggestion a little more seriously than they expected me to!” adding also“that this is a movie for people who love Coen Brothers films. It was more important for us to convey the vibe, ‘the essence of Coen-ness,’ than the premise.”

Read the whole article, it’s a good read. I was initially a little cool towards the trailer when I first posted it but now that I’ve seen it a bunch of times I really like it.

Since the Coen brothers’ forthcoming movie, A Serious Man, contains a serious amount of Yiddish, Focus Features have very kindly provided us with a glossary of terms we will come across when watching the movie. It’s time to revise…

Agunah (pronounced “ahgoonah”) – a divorced person who has not been religiously sanctioned to remarry

Bar mitzvah – Jewish religion’s important ceremony, held in a synagogue for a young man who has come of age (at 13) and will now be responsible for practicing and upholding Jewish values, morals, and traditions; female equivalent (at 12 or 13) is a bas mitzvah

Bupkes (also spelled bupkis) – nothing; applied with great emphasis, e.g., “And what do I have?Bupkes!”

Dybbuk (pronounced “dibbuck”) – The soul of a dead person, often looking to possess a live person and as such inspiring fear among the living

Gett – ref., agunah (above); a religiously sanctioned divorce, tandemed with the sanction to remarry

Goy – colloquial term for a person not of the Jewish faith (i.e., a Gentile)

Haftorah – Portions of the Hebrew Bible read aloud in synagogue services, including by a bar mitzvahboy

Hashem – means The Name, and is basic Hebrew term/name used for God

Macher (pronounced “mohhcc-er”) – an achiever, a person of importance/influence

Mazel tov! (pronounced “mozzle-tov!”) – Congratulations!

Mensch (pronounced “mensh”) – someone with strength of character/an applied sense of purpose

Mitzvah – good deedor blessing, though mostly used in an everyday and non-religious context, e.g. “Picking up your groceries while you were stuck in bed with a broken leg – that was a mitzvah your neighbor did.”

Nu? – What’s up? What’s the story here?

Rabbi(pronounced “rab-eye”) – Ordained Jewish religious scholar/teacher, often relied upon as community leader

Reb – Formal-address equivalent of Mister, as in “Reb Nudell is coming to visit our family;” or, more colloquially, abbreviation of a prominent rabbi, as in “Which Reb is conducting the service today?”

Shabbas(or, shabbos, from Shabbat) – Judaism’s Sabbath, from Friday evening through Saturday evening

Shtetl(pronounced “shtet-el”) – a small Jewish village, in bygone times, in Eastern Europe

Shiva– means seven, and also refers to the participatory seven-day mourning period for the recently deceased; e.g., “We are sitting shiva for my wife’s uncle, who passed away earlier this week”

Shul – a synagogue and its congregation

Synagogue (pronounced “sinagog”) – a Jewish house of worship

Torah – the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, transcribed onto a scroll for use in synagogueservices including a bar mitzvah

Thanks to Bunnie for pointing this out.

That’s right folks- finally the marketing for A Serious Man is hotting up. First the trailer, then the first official image and now the first one-sheet poster! It uses the same image I posted up on Wednesday- Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) on his roof. Click it for a truly giant, hi-res version and make it your new desktop wallpaper.

Also the website address at the bottom of the poster doesn’t do much at the moment (just the trailer but it will very soon I expect. I’ll be keeping my eye on it daily and will alert you all when there’s some action.

The first official image from the Coen brothers forthcoming movie, A Serious Man has been released. It features main character, Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) on his roof partaking in his favourite passtime…

Click the image below to see it’s MUCH bigger brother…

Empire online are carrying a wee story about the release of the A Serious Man trailer yesterday (as is just about every other site on the internet) and within it they claim that the release date here in the UK is November 20th. A full SEVEN WEEKS behind you lucky Americans!

That’s right everybody- the first trailer for the Coen brothers’ forthcoming movie, A Serious Man is up online. Check it out over at Apple movie trailers in wonderful Quicktime HD or watch below…

I’ll be honest, I don’t know what to make of it. It’s a strange trailer which, I think, is unlikely to draw in anyone who isn’t already interested. There’s just one fleeting shot of Richard Kind, otherwise it completely concentrates on the character of Larry Gopnick played by Michael Stuhlbarg. What do you think?

Thanks to Lachlan for mailing the news in!

Terrific news indeed- the Coen brothers latest creation, A Serious Man, has been confirmed as part of the line up of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival as a “Special Presentation” in what will be its World Premiere. It’ll be showing between 10th and 19th of September though the actual date and time appear to have not yet been set.

Just think- the World Premiere of the new Coen movie is only around 6 weeks away!!! SIX WEEKS!

Thanks to Eugene for the nod.

The MPAA have revealed the rating for the Coen brothers’ next movie, A Serious Man. It will be rated R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence.

So the usual smattering of cuss words and some shocking bursts of violence. Excellent.

Oscar dodger and long-time Coen movie composer, Carter Burwell, has been awarded a career achievement award by his peers at the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers at the 24th Film and Television Music Awards gala, held at the Beverly Hilton on Monday night. He’s has worked on every single Coen brothers’ movie from Blood Simple (which was his debut) to the forthcoming A Serious Man.

So that’s nice for him, now all he needs is some worthy recognition from the Academy…

NPR has a brief write up of a recent brief interview with Ethan Coen, where he discusses his written work and touches a little on the forthcoming movie, A Serious Man. You can read the article but also listen to the interview (by clicking “listen now” then “add to playlist” from the top of the article). He talks about his published books, including the release (April 20th) of the recent play, Almost an Evening, along with the re-release of his book of poetry, ‘The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way‘.

Jerry Lundergaard himself, William H. Macy, even reads the titular poem ‘The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way’, (which you can also read over on NPR)! How can you resist?

Back to movies then, of A Serious Man he says;

“It’s about a Jewish family in the Midwest, a kind of middle-class Jewish family in 1967 and it’s kind of, well you know, like all our movies. I hope there are some laughs but I’m not sure I would call it a comedy. It’s kind of a domestic drama about a guy whose life kind of falls apart. Horrible, horrible things happen to him so, of course, it’s funny.”

Says “kind of” a lot doesn’t he?

Thanks due to elite Coen brothers news hound, Bunnie!