It’s a good day whenever the Coen brothers announce they are moving forward with a project. It’s an even better one when they announce another collaboration with old friend George Clooney. If today’s reports are to be believed, Joel and Ethan Coen’s long-gestating project Hail Caesar, which has been on the back-burner since 2004, may be their next film.
In a recent interview from Thompson on Hollywood, when asked about the progress of Hail Caesar, the Coens expressed optimism that the film would soon see the light of day.
“We’ve been working on that one,” Joel Coen said. “There’s a good chance that would be next.”
Hail Caesar could be the third film in what Clooney deems his “Numbskull Trilogy” with the Coens, after O Brother, Where Are Thou? and Intolerable Cruelty. The film, when it was originally announced, was about a troupe of theatre actors during the 1920s putting on a play set in ancient Rome. Ethan Coen clarified that the film was more about “faith and the movie business,” which means that the theatre group may have changed to a group of silent film stars. Clooney would play a matinee idol called upon to take part in the production.
Recently, the Coen brothers announced that, among the various old-timey genres they have already taken on and updated with a dark, absurdist glee (gangster noir, screwball comedy, western), they would be writing a script for a ‘sandal movie’ to take place in ancient Rome. Ethan Coen even confirmed that the film would be “big” and “interested in all the big questions.” These comments about big themes, a grand scope and the ancient Rome setting of that sandal film would seem to fit Hail Caesar‘s bill.
And speaking of the Coen Brothers, make sure to keep an eye out for Inside Llewyn Davis as it expands theatrically throughout December.