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.

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!

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!

This year’s Oscar nominations have just been announced by Anne Hathaway and A Serious Man is up for two awards! Along with the predictable nod for Best Original Screenplay the movie is also up for the big one- Best Picture!

No Best Actor nom for Michael Stuhlbarg though. Real shame!

A full list of nominations can be seen here – http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees

Out in a mere 4 days the Blu-ray release of A Serious Man has received its first (to my knowledge at least) review. Blr-news.com gave it 10/10 for picture quality, saying;

“The level of details is of the highest quality on Blu-ray. Whether it be a close-up or wide shot, everything stands out and looks great. There are many wide shots in particular that are jaw-dropping. Even a grocery store shot from the air captures every little detail, everything pops and everything has dimension.”

The review also confirms the lengths of the three featurettes; ‘Becoming Serious’ is 17:04 long, ‘Creating 1967′ is 13:43 and ‘Hebrew and Yiddish for Goys’ is 2:14. All four are in “HD”.

Check out the full review here.

I can’t wait for mine to arrive!

The BAFTA nominations are announced, just one nomination for the Coen brothers’ latest, A Serious Man. Predictably it’s in the Original Screenplay category. An Education, The Hurt Locker and James Cameron’s Sci-fi bonanza, Avatar lead the way with 8 nominations each. The awards ceremony takes place on 21st February.

Click here to see a complete list of nominations.

A Serious Man’s one and only Golden Globe nominee, Michael Stuhlbarg, missed out in the Best Performance by an Actor Comedy or Musical category to Robert Downey Jr for his stint as Sherlock Holmes.

It’s not all bad news for the Coen brothers fraternity though, The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, won in the category Best Performance by an Actor Drama for his role in Crazy Heart and T. Bone Burnett won for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for this theme for the same movie. Burnett, for those that don’t know, has collaborated with the Coen brothers in the past most notably on O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Ladykillers and The Big Lebowski in the role of musical archivist / music producer.

Complete list of nominees and winners can be seen here.

Roderick Jaynes, that cantankerous, old Englishman has been nominated for his sterling editing work on the Coen brothers’ latest movie, A Serious Man. The 60th annual American Cinema Editors dish out their “Eddies” ond February 14, 2010 at the Beverly Hilton.

The best of luck to him.

Joel and Ethan Coen have been nominated in the category Original Screenplay for A Serious Man at this year’s Writer’s Guild of America awards to be held on 20th February simultaneously in LA and New York. Here is the complete list of nominees;

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

(500) Days of Summer, Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber; Fox Searchlight

Avatar, Written by James Cameron; 20th Century Fox

The Hangover, Written by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore; Warner Bros.

The Hurt Locker, Written by Mark Boal; Summit Entertainment

A Serious Man, Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; Focus Features

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Crazy Heart, Screenplay by Scott Cooper; Based on the novel by Thomas Cobb; Fox Searchlight

Julie & Julia, Screenplay by Nora Ephron; Based on the books Julie & Julia by Julie Powell and My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme; Sony Pictures

Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher; Based on the novel Push by Sapphire; Lionsgate

Star Trek, Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman; Based upon Star Trek, Created by Gene Roddenberry; Paramount Pictures

Up in the Air, Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner; Based upon the novel by Walter Kirn; Paramount Pictures

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Against the Tide, Screenplay by Richard Trank & Rabbi Marvin Hier; Moriah Films

Capitalism: A Love Story, Written by Michael Moore; Overture Films

The Cove, Written by Mark Monroe; Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions

Earth Days, Written by Robert Stone; Zeitgeist Films

Good Hair, Written by Chris Rock & Jeff Stilson and Lance Crouther and Chuck Sklar; Roadside Attractions

Soundtrack for a Revolution, Written by Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman; Freedom Song Productions and Louverture Films