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.

It’s been very quiet lately and I just stumbled across this over on the mighty Flickr. There seems to be something of a trend of taking a new film, book or game and making an old-style cover for them. Here’s Spacesick’s cover for the novellisation of The Hudsucker Proxy...

I got a bang out of it and thought you would too. And – TWO Hudsucker posts on the trot! WOW!

You read that right! A stage musical based on The Hudsucker Proxy!

The movie that this very site gets it’s strange name from has been made into a stage musical by Stephen A Weiner and Gelnn Slater and to be directed by Jerry Zaks. Apparently they’ve had the rights since 2001 and it’s taken this long to whip it into shape. It will play at the La Jolla Playhouse in California in June/July this year. It seems at the moment that they’re still in the process of casting it but you can already hear some songs from it over on Weiner’s website, go check ‘em out or, err, they’ll dock ya. From the songs it is obvious that the show will stick closely to the script. Could be fun.

Here’s the official blurb;

The Hudsucker Proxy, “a Page to Stage Workshop Production,” book and lyrics by Glenn Slater, music by Stephen A. Weiner, July/August 2009, Mandell Weiss Theatre. “When the CEO of Hudsucker Industries makes an abrupt and fatal exit from the company, the board of directors hatches a plot to drive their stock price down in order to buy up all the shares themselves. Enter Norville Barnes, a naive mailroom employee with a loopy new invention destined to fail, and a new Hudsucker CEO is born. Based on the Coen Brothers’ 1994 film, The Hudsucker Proxy is a delightfully dark musical fairy tale with an original score.” (Page To Stage productions are not open to critical review.)

What with all the news of The Dark Knight being the bestest movie in the world since time began (according to it’s IMDB user rating) and in conjunction with YKFK’s currently running poll to find out which was the best (or more accurately- most favourite) Coen brothers movie, I thought it might be interesting to see what the IMDB users thought in comparison. In terms of ratings here’s IMDB’s rundown of Coen awesomeness first by rating and, where there’s a tie, I’ve given preference to the one with the most votes…

1. No Country For Old Men (8.4, 118,396 votes)
2. Fargo (8.3, 122,902)
3. The Big Lebowski (8.2, 122,119)
4. Miller’s Crossing (8.0, 31,861)
5. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (7.8, 71,292)
6. Blood Simple (7.8, 19,584)
7. The Man Who Wasn’t There (7.7, 30,891)
8. Barton Fink (7.7, 22,073)
9. Raising Arizona (7.5, 35,918)
10. The Hudsucker Proxy (7.4, 23,968)
11. Intolerable Cruelty (6.4, 26, 521)
12. The Ladykillers (6.2, 27,747)

Now, obviously, this is a live list so it will change over time. I just thought it might be interesting to compare what general movie fans think as opposed to specific Coen brothers fans who visit YKFK. At the moment the YKFK poll has Miller’s Crossing and The Big Lebowski tied at the top with 19% of the votes a piece. Next up is Fargo with 16% followed by Barton Fink with 13%. The bottom two in the YKFK poll unsurprisingly mirror the bottom two in the IMDB rankings, each taking up zero percent of the votes thus far- come on- SOMEONE must like them .

I was very surprised to see No Country For Old Men top the IMDB list whilst it is sixth on ours, but these type of things are always coloured by short memory. Will the IMDB voters still consider No Country superior to Fargo and The Big Lebowski in 10 years time?

Come the end of the YKFK poll (I ain’t decided how long to run it really- perhaps it should never end- your thoughts welcome) we need to decide which of the two polls is more important to us here at YKFK- the one voted for by dedicated Coen nuts or the one voted for by a more general movie fan…

Incidentally, I’m seeing The Dark Knight tomorrow afternoon and am looking forward to it immensely. I am expecting great things but the best movie of all time… nope.

Charles Durning will need to introduction to anyone reading this site I’m sure. The fine character actor who brought us Wareing Hudsucker (The Hudsucker Proxy) and Pappy O’Daniel (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) is to be honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the Screen Actors Guild. He’s 84 years old now and has led quite a life which would, one day, make a fascinating biopic. He served his country WWII including the Normandy landings on Omaha beach which was, of course, made famous by Speilberg’s Saving Private Ryan and was also the sole survivor of the battle of Malmedy in Belgium. He received three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for bravery. Hats off to the man and I hope he has many more memorable roles in him.

Thanks to M@ for emailing this in.

Got to share this with you all- go here, they sell t-shirts based on the fictional places and companies from movies. They have a fine selection and three of them are from Coen movies. There’s a Hudsucker Industries one, a Little Lebowski Urban Achievers one and a Hotel Earle one! Check ‘em out.

lastexittonowhere.com

Got to share this with you all- go here, they sell t-shirts based on the fictional places and companies from movies. They have a fine selection and three of them are from Coen movies. There’s a Hudsucker Industries one, a Little Lebowski Urban Achievers one and a Hotel Earle one! Check ‘em out.

lastexittonowhere.com

Anna Nicole Smith has passed away at the age of 39. She had collapsed and was found unresponsive in a Florida hotel her lawyer said. No cause of death has been announced.

Smith had a small part as Buzz the elevator boy’s girlfriend in The Hudsucker Proxy. RIP.

Guardian