Joel and Ethan Coen more often than not come up with the stories for the screenplays that they direct, but it seems since they had such a successful time adapting and directing Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, they’re going to give the whole directing an adaptation thing another shot. This time it’s with Pulitzer Prize winning Michael Chabon’s novel The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. Chabon is the author of the novels Wonder Boys and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, both of which have already been made for the big screen. Variety has the scoop on Yiddish‘s premise:
“Chabon sets up a contemporary scenario where Jewish settlers are about to be displaced by U.S. government’s plans to turn the frozen locale of Sitka, Alaska, over to Alaskan natives. Against this backdrop is a noir-style murder mystery in which a rogue cop investigates the killing of a heroin-addicted chess prodigy who might be the messiah.”
This definitely seems to have the quirky, interesting characters that the Coen brothers (and I) love. Variety says work on this will begin after Joel and Ethan finish A Serious Man for Working Title and Focus Features, so who knows when exactly that will be. As of right now, they’re in post-production on Burn After Reading, the Clooney-Pitt CIA movie that will make its way to theatres this September.
Can’t go wrong with the Coen boys. Hopefully they don’t get too big and sell out like a lot of directors. Also, I enjoy how they do everything together. You never speak of one without the other.
I am a big fan of Michael Chabon. And I can see how the Coen brothers can do The Yiddish Policemen’s Union justice. Of course, I am still awaiting the film adaptation of his best book, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
They’ve been directing since ’84, I think they’ve been successful enough that they’re beyond the point of ever selling out. Had they, they would have done it in ’96 after the success of Fargo. With that said, some might say doing studio-driven pics like The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty was the Coen boys on the verge of selling out – but if that was even the case, I think they got that out of their system.