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.

A Serious Man star Michael Stuhlbarg has been honoured with the Chopin Virtuosos Award at this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival along with  Carey Mulligan (for An Education), Saoirse Ronan (for The Lovely Bones) and Gabourey Sidibe (for Precious).

Of Stuhlbarg’s performance SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling said ; “Best known for his talents on the Broadway stage, Michael Stuhlbarg’s performance in “A Serious Man” as a suburban father in 1967 whose life crumbles right before him is thought-provoking and allows us to laugh at life’s seemingly insurmountable troubles.”

The nominations for the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards have just been announced and A Serious Man star Michael Stuhlbarg is up in the BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL category! Unfortunately this is the movie’s only nomination.

The very best of luck to him!

Empire magazine’s website has a 5 minute (ish) interview with the star of A Serious Man, Michael Stuhlbarg. In it he discusses just how much of the movie is autobiographical for the Coen brothers and his interpretation of Schrödinger’s Cat.

Stuhlbarg always comes across as a really nice dude and his performance in A Serious Man is top-drawer so I really hope his career takes off in the way it deserves to. Hopefully he’ll work with the Coens again too!

Just a quick note to poke you in the direction of Empire magazine’s website. They have an exclusive clip from A Serious Man. It is the scene where Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg) is visited by his flunking student, Clive.

Click here to get yourself zapped to Empire’s site.

Cracks me up when Clive says “Secret test… hush, hush!”

The brothers Coen appeared on the Charlie Rose show to discuss A Serious Man. Along for the ride were two of the movie’s stars, Michael Stuhlbarg and Richard Kind. You can watch the whole 22 minute segment on the Charlie Rose website if you hit “archive” and scroll down a little (coincidentally the very next clip in the list is with an author called Alison Gopnik!!!). Or you can read a transcript here.

Near the start Joel quips that it’s one of those race occasions where the trailer is better than the movie, they discuss the slurping of soup and reveal their private working title – “The Jew Movie”.

All in all it isn’t terribly revealing but an interview with the Coen brothers is a rare thing so you should check it out.

Thanks to David for spotting this one!

According to a poll of film critics and bloggers by indieWIRE the Coen brothers’ latest movie, A Serious Man was the best film at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Here’s the top 10 Best Narrative Films;

1. A Serious Man, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (63 points)
2. City of Life and Death, directed by Chuan Lu (20)
3. Up In The Air, directed by Jason Reitman (18)
3. A Prophet, directed by Jacques Audiard (18)
5. Dogtooth, directed by Giorgos Lanthimos (17)
6. Precious, directed by Lee Daniels (16)
7. I Am Love, directed by Luca Guadagnino (11)
7. Hadewijch, directed by Bruno Dumont (11)
7. A Single Man, directed by Tom Ford (11)
7. Lebanon, directed by Samuel Maoz (11)

Star of the movie, Michael Stuhlbarg also came in third in the poll for Best Lead Performance;

1. Colin Firth in “A Single Man” (13)
2. Tilda Swinton in “I Am Love (12)
2. Michael Stuhlbarg in “A Serious Man” (12)
4. Tahar Rahim in “A Prophet” (10)
5. Anne Dorval in “I Killed My Mother” (9)
5. Nicolas Cage in “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” (9)
5. Matt Damon in “The Informant!” (9)
5. Katie Jarvis in “Fish Tank” (9)

Very nice indeed. I’m getting very excited about the movie now but I have quite a long wait. Don’t forget you people in the US that the movie is out on 2nd October! Also, remember that you can keep you Coen diary up-to-date using the widget in the side-bar on the right.

Three of the cast members of A Serious Man, Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind and Sari Lennick discuss just how thorough the Coen brothers were when casting Jews for the movie…

Below is a short movie clip from the red carpet of the Toronto International Film Festival world premiere of A Serious Man. It features brief interviews with start Michael Stuhlbarg and Amy Landecker and also a brief bit with Joel Coen at the podium.

In addition to the clips from A Serious Man posted earlier, there are also some interviews. The first is a four minute clip with Joel and Ethan Coen where they discuss their thoughts on the Midwestern setting of the movie, the character of Larry being based somewhat on real life, the different character’s agendas, casting “unknowns” and Midwestern Jews and also their affection for the characters. Here it is;

The next is with actor Michael Stuhlbarg who is is playing the main character, Larry Gopnik. He discusses his character and his experiences making the movie;

The final one is with Jessica McManus who plays Sarah Gopnik, Larry’s daughter;