HE to Ethan Coen (at today’s press luncheon): “The only speed bump for mainstream audiences in No Country for Old Men, as you know, is your decision to not allow audiences to share in Josh Brolin‘s final fate, as it were.”

Coen to HE: “And that’s a perverse decision, isn’t it?”

HE: “Well, that’s one of the things that give the film artistic authority and distinction, and it either makes people respect it or…”

Cohen: “Or dislike it.”

No Country for Old Men co-director and co-writer Ethan Coen at today’s Miramax press luncehon — Sunday, 5.20.07, 1:55 pm

HE: “Well, we all know that there’s a certain expectation [out there], that when you’ve spent the entire movie with a guy, you wanna…but for me, this is what makes the film extra-special.”

Coen: “And for us too. I mean, it’s just from the novel and [garbled]. But when you get to this point you say, ‘Okay, the movie’s not ultimately about this guy…so what is it about?'”

HE: “About the end of the world, about the good old stuff really coming to an end, about being engulfed by waste and annihilation.”

Coen: “Uh-huh!”

Here’s a sound file of the conversation.

A fast follow-up on the Duelling Bielinski Brothers projects (i.e., Phillip Noyce‘s vs. Ed Zwick‘s). I’ve recevied the following statement from Noyce, to wit: “Historical facts should not be owned or bartered, but it would appear that the life rights of surviving family and Bielski brigade members that our lawyers have maintained for the past several years could mean the following:
“Any other film about the Bielski Brothers” — Zwick’s — “might have to tell the story without retelling any of the incidents described in the personal statements of these real-life characters made exclusively to our research team or contained exclusively in the source material to which we hold the rights.
“Nonetheless, a fiction film inspired by the Bielski Brothers will still leave plenty of room for the remarkable real story to be told.The bravery of the Bielskis should be celebrated over and over. — Phillip Noyce.”

It was hard to hear for all the restaurant clatter, but four No Country For Old Men guys — director-writers Joel and Ethan Coen, and costars Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin — sat down at a press luncheon early this afternoon at the Noga Beach eatery. The mp3s — here’s Bardem’s and here’s Brolin’s — are discernible if you wear earphones and/or turn the sound up.

No Country for Old Men costar Javier Bardem at this afternoon’s Miramax press luncheon at the Noga Beach– Sunday, 5.230.07, 2:20 pm