Oscar winning brothers Joel and Ethan Coen could win a few more if Inside Llewyn Davis does really well at the Oscars, but they’re already talking about what comes next. They may stay in the music realm, since they said in a new interview that they’re working on a musical comedy.
Music has been a key factor in many of their films, particularly Llewyn Davis and 2000’s O Brother Where Art Thou?, both films with soundtracks produced by T Bone Burnett. But they haven’t done a musical. When Vulture asked if they’d consider making a traditional musical, the two said they are working on one.
At first, Joel said that Llewyn Davis is “kind of as close to a full-blown musical as we would make,” adding, “Certainly, there's as much music in this movie as in any full-blown musical.”
Ethan explained that their film is without the dancing, then added, “But one of the two things we're writing right now, it's not a musical per se...” Joel chimed in, “… but it has what might be considered more traditional musical numbers.”
Ethan then clarified what they meant, “It's a musical comedy.”
It’s still not clear what the Coens hope to make next. They did recently tell the Associated Press that they are writing a film set in ancient Rome.
“It's like: Would you ever do a sandal movie?” Joel said. “It’s big...We're interested in the big questions. And we don't (expletive) around with subtext. This one especially,” Ethan added.
image: Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI/image.net