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.

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!

Just found this little blog post in my RSS feed, which says that, during the production of the Coen brothers’ forthcoming A Serious Man a whopping 11.1 tons of waste was either composted or recycled. Well done to all involved!

I like to be as green as I can so this made me feel all warm inside.

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.”

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!

The Coen brothers completed principal photography on A Serious Man on Wednesday November 5th, 44 days after starting, ahead of schedule and under budget. Information from an article about the shooting of the movie at StarTribune.com.

Thanks to Bunnie for letting me know.

The New Zealand Herald’s website is carrying an article with a brief interview with Joel and Ethan Coen. In the main it’s about the release of Burn After Reading but contains this interesing part about A Serious Man…

Set in a Jewish community in the midwest in 1967, A Serious Man is again their own story. Drama or comedy?

“I don’t know,” replies Ethan. “Was this one a comedy? Well, if it is then I suppose A Serious Man is a comedy too.” Is it a black comedy perhaps? “Not so much, but it’s not Tropic Thunder either. Our movies are hard to describe. It’s about a family. Not much happens. There are a few laughs. We have a few actors in mind but there’s nobody in it you’ve ever heard of.”

Was that deliberate after the star-studded Burn After Reading?

“Only in the sense that with some movies you want that movie star thing and some you don’t.”

Thanks to Nick for mailing this one in.

WCCO.com has a brief news report about the shooting of A Serious Man dealing with some of the Minnesota residents who have given over their homes to the production. It’s a fun and interesting piece outlining how the crew have been able to make the modern houses and streets look like they’re in the 1960’s. The clip shows Larry Gopnick (the serious man of the title played by Michael Stuhlbarg) having a little fender bender, talks about a nude scene taking place on a porch (ooo-err!), shows the Coen brothers at work and also mentions that the procudtion is three days ahead of schedule, which is ace.

You can watch the clip here (don’t bother reading the article as it’s pretty much just a transcription of the video).

According to movie font of all knowledge, the IMDB, one Katherine Borowitz is to appear in the forthcoming A Serious Man as a character called Mimi Nudell. Using my rules for the Family Tree section of YKFK an actor must have appeared in at least two Coen brothers movies and Borowitz’s previous appearance was in 2001’s Palme D’Or winner- The Man Who Wasn’t There as Big Dave Brewster’s (James Gandolfini) wife, UFO conspiracist and future department store heiress, Ann Nirdlinger. To jog your memory here’s a pic…