The B-Side Ep. 159 – The Coen Brothers (with Stephen Sajdak)

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.

Today we talk about two American icons: Joel and Ethan Coen. Our guest is an icon all his own: Stephen Sajdak from the We Hate Movies podcast!

We discuss the B-Sides The Hudsucker Proxy, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Intolerable Cruelty, and Burn After Reading. There’s also time given to their remake The Ladykillers.

We make many references to Adam Nayman’s well-researched and well-considered book The Coen Brothers This Book Really Ties the Films Together, explore the critical success the filmmakers had with Fargo, and how they filmed The Man Who Wasn’t There in color and then printed it to black-and-white film.

Other topics include the Coen Brothers’ film Hail Caesar! and their childhood fascination with biblical epics like Quo Vadis, their amazing commentary on The Man Who Wasn’t There disc, Spielberg’s advice to George Clooney on how to become a movie star, or that time Clooney recalled being bewildered that Quentin Tarantino thought the two of them looked alike while they were promoting From Dusk Till Dawn.

Finally, Tracy Zooms In comes up (obviously), the new Barry Levinson gangster picture The Alto Knights, and the James Gandolfini holiday picture Surviving Christmas.

Listen below and subscribe here. Be sure to give us a follow on Bluesky at @tfsbside.bsky.social. Enjoy!

The post The B-Side Ep. 159 – The Coen Brothers (with Stephen Sajdak) first appeared on The Film Stage.