In possibly the shortest news item in history, Variety is reporting that Paul Rae has joined the cast of True Grit as one of Ned Pepper’s (Barry Pepper) nefarious gang.

You may well recognise Rae he’s been in just about every hit US TV show in recent years including House, Fringe, Californication, Malcolm in the Middle, Desperate Housewives, Monk and The West Wing as well as movies including Oliver Stone’s W.

Santa Fe County Sheriff, Greg Solano found his way onto the set of the Coen brothers’ currently shooting True Grit in New Mexico. He has posted a couple of shots of him and his wife with Matt Damon and the one and only, the Dude himself, Jeff Bridges.

Unfortunately they’re not in character/costume but still – THE MOVIE IS SHOOTING RIGHT NOW!!!

Fred Melamed, last seen playing the incredibly earnest Sy Ableman in A Serious Man, has confirmed in an interview with Empire magazine that the Coen brothers may have a role for him in their future adaptation of Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. In said interview in the April 2010 issue of the magazine, when asked how he landed the role of Sy he said;

“I know the Coens a little bit as I went to school with Joel’s wife, Frances McDormand. I actually auditioned for a role in Barton Fink, the pushy movie executive, but Michael Lerner got it. Then they offered me a part in The Hudsucker Proxy, a character wearing only a baby diaper. Luckily, I wasn’t available. Finally, we made it work. And they told me there may be a part for me in The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, when they make that.”

I would love Melamed to become one of the Coen Family.

Variety is reporting that actor, Barry Pepper, has joined the cast of the Coen brothers’ forthcoming adaptation of Charles Portis’ novel, True Grit. He will play the part of ‘Lucky’ Ned Pepper (played by Robert Duvall in the 1969 John Wayne version) and joins Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld in the cast.

Pepper is perhaps best known for his role as crack sniper, Pvt. Daniel Jackson in Steven Spielberg’s (who acts as a producer on True Grit incidentally) Saving Private Ryan and for his part in the interminable, Scientology nonsense, Battlefield Earth. I recommend checking out the excellent Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada in which he played alongside No Country For Old Men star, Tommy Lee Jones.

Last night’s Oscars ended with Katherine Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker being the big winner with six. Indeed that film beat the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man in both of the categories it was nominated in – Best Film and Best Original Screenplay.

Better luck next year with True Grit which stars brand new Oscar winner, Jeff Bridges!

Full list of winners here – http://www.empireonline.com/oscars2010/winners/

A Serious Man was up for two Film Independent Spirit Awards and has won one of them. Joel and Ethan Coen were nominated in the Best Director category but ultimately lost out to Lee Daniels for Precious. However, long time Coen cinematographer, Roger Deakins scooped the Best Cinematography award for his usual stellar work on A Serious Man. In addition the movie has been awarded their Robert Altman Award which is a special one awarded to just one film’s the director, casting director and its ensemble cast.

Also, The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges scooped the Best Male Lead award for his role in Crazy Heart.

The complete list of nominees and winners can be seen here.

Oh and don’t forget the Oscars this weekend! A Serious Man is up for TWO awards – Best Original Screenplay and, the big on- Best Picture!

Last week it was nothing more than rumour but now Variety have confirmed that 13 year-old newcomer, Hailee Steinfeld has been plucked from the 15,000 girls who auditioned, and has been cast in the coveted role of Mattie Ross in the Coen brothers’ forthcoming True Grit. The movie starts shooting next month and she’ll star alongside Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin.

Well done to her!

Details included within a Texas casting call for the Coen brothers’ next movie, an adaptation of Charles Portis’ novel True Grit, shed some light on many of the movie’s characters. Details of the characters are below and details of the casting sessions can be found here;

Character Breakdowns:
True Grit FEATURED EXTRAS and 2 ROLES:

GENERAL NOTE – Casting all types – esp Native American, African American (non-relaxed hair), Hispanic & people over age 60. All faces should not be too refined. Hard-bitten western faces. Frontier types! Rough looking. Hair must not be colored.

• FRANK JAMES – 70’s – 80’s. Beady-eyed bastard. Very mean looking. Thug. Son-of-a-gun. Not a nice guy!
• ODUS WHARTON – Mid to late 20’s, but not boyish. Mean face. Bad man! Dark / suspect genes. A dude you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark hollow.
• GRANDMA TURNER – 60’s – 70’s. 2 options: Very large woman (too big to share bed w/Mattie). Old crone (mean old lady).
• FRANK ROSS – 40’s, late 30’s. Same gene pool as Mattie Ross. Tall, thin, not heavy. Great face!
• YOUNG BOY – Stereotypical newsie. Interesting features – big ears, crooked teeth, or lots of freckles, etc.
• WILD WEST PERFORMERS – Cowboys & Native Americans (or non-Native Americans that could fit the description. Long haired). Cowboys should look a bit older (like non-practicing cowboys).
• 40 YEAR-OLD MATTIE – Mattie seen as an adult woman. Thin & severe, she has brown hair and brown eyes. She may also function as the narrator, who comments on the action in retrospect…at least 1 line, 1 scene MAJORITY OF THIS ROLE MAY BE IN VOICE-OVER.
• MATTIE ACTING DOUBLE – MUST BE 18 or over, legally. To play age 14. A 5′5″, thin, preferably brown haired, brown eyed actress needed as an acting double for MATTIE ROSS, a precocious, self-possessed girl. Should have narrow shoulders & a slender body type. Please note, though the acting double will be playing scenes w/ the other characters, her face & voice will not appear in the final film. Must have acting experience.

That’s right! Focus Features have teamed up with Variety, a Californian children’s charity, to auction off the 1966 Dodge Coronet that was used as Larry Gopnik’s car in the Coen brothers’ latest movie, A Serious Man.

So you can bid to buy a fine, classic car and get an instant karma boost at the same time. Happy bidding!

Interesting things afoot on the internet suggesting that the Coen brothers have finally found the girl to play Mattie Ross in their movie adaptation of True Grit.

Thanks to eagle-eyed YKFK reader, David who spotted a posting on the Facebook page of casting director Marci Liroff (subsequently removed/deleted) stating that; “HUGE congratulations go to my student Hailee Steinfeld who just got the coveted part of “Mattie Ross” in the Coen Bros. remake of True Grit.”

On top of that it seems one of her friends has Twittered her congratulations; “So incredibly proud of my fam friend Hailee Steinfeld- just landed the lead role in the remake of “True Grit” opposite Damon and Jeff Bridges!”

So, who is Hailee Steinfeld? Here’s her IMDB page.

Again, many thanks to David for his Columbo-esque detective work.