One of 2013’s best films, Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1960s-set musical drama Inside Llewyn Davis, was unfairly shut out of the Academy Awards and almost every other major awards ceremony, but no quantity of eyebrow-raising snubs will make moviegoers forget that the Coen Brothers are two of the most versatile and talented directors in the industry today. That’s why it’s exciting to learn that they are moving forward with their next project, a Hollywood-set comedy titled Hail Caesar.
The film has been in the works since 2004, and George Clooney became attached last December to play the part of the male lead. Deadline reported today that the project has been confirmed as the filmmakers’ next directorial gig, and that the pair have reworked the story pretty extensively since its inception.
Originally, Hail Caesar was said to focus on a 1920s matinee film star who signed on to an epic about life in Ancient Rome. Though that epic will still factor into the plot, the Coen Brothers have changed the setting and focus. Now, Hail Caesar will apparently follow a character named Eddie Mannix, who works as a fixer for the major studios of 1950s Hollywood. Mannix’s job is to protect the day’s most famed movie stars from threats, whether those threats be invasive reporters, blackmailers, stalkers or more serious enemies.
In December, when Clooney became attached, Ethan Coen revealed a little about the themes of Hail Casesar, saying:
“It’s about the movie business and life and religion and faith. Faith and the movie business,”
Any project from the Coen Brothers is exciting, and Hail Caesar sounds like it will fit right into their filmography. Word is that they are approaching the film as a third installment in their unofficial ‘Numbskull’ trilogy, which includes O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Intolerable Cruelty (both of which also starred Clooney).
No word yet on a release date for Hail Caesar, but the earliest I’d expect to see it is the fall of 2015.