Rudin profiled by Thompson

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"When he read Sheriff Bell's final monologue in No Country for Old Men, producer Scott Rudin was reminded of Nicolas Cage's film-closing fantasy of the future in Raising Arizona. "They're so incredibly similar," he says. "[Cormac McCarthy's book] is fundamentally a lament for a different time that has disappeared."

It was not only Joel and Ethan Coen's signature voice, often tinged with a Texas twang, that made Rudin think of the duo, he says, "but the way their films' believably explode into action. They're the filmmaking equivalent of what McCarthy does in his books. The philosophical ideas in the book dealt with the fate and destiny of the characters, these Melville-like themes that the Coens had dealt with in their films."

"'You get this synergy of a great filmmaking team and a great novelist coming together in something bigger than both of them,' says Rudin." -- from Anne Thompson's 12.6 Variety profile of the prolific producer.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 8, 2007 at 3:29 AM

comment #1

le corbeau says ...

"When he read Sheriff Bell's final monologue in No Country for Old Men, producer Scott Rudin was reminded of Nicolas Cage's film-closing fantasy of the future in Raising Arizona. "They're so incredibly similar," he says.

Which is exactly the problem.

"The problem, Mr. Goldwyn, is that you are talking about art, and I am only interested in money." --George Bernard Shaw

Posted by le corbeau at December 8, 2007 6:22 AM

comment #2

Larry says ...

Nicolas Cage's monologue was, in context, touching and funny. Everything about that windbag Sheriff Bell is boring.

Posted by Larry at December 8, 2007 11:55 AM

comment #3

Craig Kennedy says ...

I'm glad Rudin decided to hire the Coens to make the picture, but the comparison between the endings is as facile as comparing Anton Chigurh to Leonard Smalls or Ed Tom to Marge Gunderson. The connections exist mainly on the surface.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at December 8, 2007 12:12 PM

comment #4

BurmaShave says ...

Is it too soon to start calling people, like Mgmax or Larry, who don't get it or actually think it's bad Philistines?

Posted by BurmaShave at December 8, 2007 2:40 PM

comment #5

Mr. Gittes says ...

After seeing No Country for Old Men a second time, the first thought I had after the Ed Tom Bell final monologue was Morgan Freeman's last line in Seven.

Both chilling...

Tough, tough movies.

Posted by Mr. Gittes at December 8, 2007 3:54 PM

comment #6

le corbeau says ...

Is it too soon to call people who think a monologue about a frickin' dream was an effective way to end a movie that had been, up until that point, brilliant VISUALLY Kool-Aid-swillers?

Posted by le corbeau at December 8, 2007 5:58 PM

comment #7