George Clooney Again Lined Up To Direct ‘Suburbicon’ From Coen Brothers
The directing duo ofJoel and Ethan Coenhas done some great work with American treasureGeorge Clooney. They first worked together in 2000 with the spectacularO Brother Where Art Thou(one of my favorite Coen Brothers movies) and followed it up withIntolerable Crueltyin 2003 andBurn After Readingin 2008. However, it sounds like their next collaboration will shake things up a bit in more ways than one.
George Clooney is currently in talks to directSuburbicon, a script from the Coen Brothers that has been gestating for over a decade. Find out more about the new George Clooney Coen Brothers collaboration below!
Deadlinereports Clooney is again circling the director’s chair forSuburbicon, which is now being set up at TriStar withJoel Silverproducing. And this isn’t the first time he’s been linked to directing the project sinceEmpirepreviously heard straight from the actor that he was looking to direct the film. And this was back when he was still shootingThe Good Germanfor Steven Soderbergh in 2005. So what’s the project about?
Sadly, we don’t have any story details, but Deadline describes the project as a noir drama set in the 1950s being in the same vein asBlood Simple, the film that essentially launched the Coen Brothers' career. However, when Clooney discussed the project back in 2005, he called it a comedy:
“I’m going to do a comedy with Joel and Ethan in around a year. I really like working with them and I like doing comedy with them. They offered me a part in Suburbicon a long time ago, and since then decided they have other projects they want to work on. So I called them up and said ‘How about me taking a spin at it?’ Because it’s a really interesting, really funny, very dark comedy.”
Since this is a dark comedy, it’s easy to see why it could be considered a noir drama as well. After all, the Coen Brothers comedies have always had some darker humor in them, and aren’t always easily classified as either a comedy or drama.
Clooney directing a Coen Brothers script sounds wonderful, especially following my disappointment with his last bout behind the camera forThe Monuments Men. Clooney’s directing career has warranted some mixed results with greatness such asGood Night and Good Luck(one of my favorite films of all time) andConfessions of a Dangerous Mind, but also misses such asLeatherheads. But with a Coen Brothers script as his guide, my hopes are high forSuburbicon.
Thankfully, we won’t have to wait long for the next collaboration from Clooney and the Coens sinceHail Caesaris coming onFebruary 5th, 2016, and you canwatch the trailer right here.
