myamericanartist.com has an article about J. Todd Anderson the Coen brother’s storyboard artist. He has worked with them since Raising Arizona so that’s all but their debut movie, Blood Simple. Not forgetting of course his memorable turn as “Vistim in the field” in Fargo (credited with Prince’s squiggle thing) and his direcotrial debut The Naked Man which was co-written by Ethan Coen. Yes his Coen connections run deep. Anyway the article is a fascinating insight into the process of creating storyboards with the Coens. Read it here.

Thanks to Chris for mailing this in.

February 18th sees the release of The Complete Coen 1984-2004 on DVD. It features, as you might expect, all 11 Coen brothers movies from Blood Simple to The Ladykillers. The RRP is £69.99 but you can get it for less than £49.98 at amazon.co.uk and £55.99 at play.com. I almost wish I hadn’t bought them all already!

Blood Simple has been named the 15th Greatest Independent Movie of All Time in Empire Online’s list of 50. They had this to say about it…. “The Coen Brothers launched themselves upon an unsuspecting world with this noir throwback in 1984, and they haven’t looked back. But all their subsequent success – and many of their trademark flourishes – can be dated back to this Texas-set tale of private eyes, murder most foul and more double (triple, and quadruple) crosses than you can count. The style is present and correct in the almost black-and-white locations and bright red blood, but it’s the tone that stands out. Like Fargo without the warmth of Marge Gunderson, or Miller’s Crossing without the qualms of conscience, Blood Simple is the darkest, and arguably up there with the best, of the Coens’ films.”

I was just checking to see if biglebowskidvd.com was active yet and it still is not, but further exploration has throw up the release of a R1 Coen Brother’s Collection boxset, due out on 18th October. It has VERY similar artwork to the R2 release but completely different movies!!! In it will be the new special edition Big Lebowski, Blood Simple Director’s Cut, Intolerable Crualty and The Man Who Wasn’t There. A strange mix to be sure. RRP is set ar $39.98.ar $39.98.