Joel Coen Quotes

United States, Film Maker
November 29, 1954

Joel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Coen (born September 21, 1957), collectively referred to as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Their most acclaimed works include Miller's Crossing (1990), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), No Country for Old Men (2007), True Grit (2010) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).

Maybe our telling of the story wasn't as clear as it should have been, but I don't think that's true. In terms of understanding the story, it comes across.

Joel Coen
- True
- Understanding
You love all your characters, even the ridiculous ones. You have to on some level; they're your weird creations in some kind of way. I don't even know how you approach the process of conceiving the characters if in a sense you hated them. It's just absurd.

Joel Coen
- Weird

I guess it beats throwing trash for a living.

Joel Coen
Barton Fink got written very quickly, in about three weeks. I don't know what that means.

Joel Coen
The question is: Where would it get you if something that's a little bit ambiguous in the movie is made clear? It doesn't get you anywhere.

Joel Coen
- Movie
- Question
Usually, I don't want to sit down and listen to the director gas on about his movie. I just can't actually imagine myself sitting down and having that much to say.

Joel Coen
- Movie
I always admired Stanley Kubrick for the fact that he managed to beat the system somehow. I think he kind of had it all figured out.

Joel Coen
Sometimes, in certain stories, I think we know at the outset essentially what the tone is going to be, or it becomes important that we're groping toward some kind of story with a certain kind of tone that we both get somehow. But I don't think how that's combined with other elements is ever in any way overtly discussed.

Joel Coen
- Important

The architecture of a story can be a little bit different if it's a true story.

Joel Coen
And when you see it the first time you put the film together, the roughest cut, is when you want to go home and open up your veins and get in a warm tub and just go away. And then it gradually, maybe, works its way back, somewhere toward that spot you were at before.

Joel Coen
- Up
- Time
- Home
It's almost like a genre rule: Don't Open The Box.

Joel Coen