It looks like the Coens are a little closer to getting their next film mounted, and with producer Scott Rudin — who paired with duo previously on “No Country For Old Men” and “True Grit” — now behind the film, it looks like the trio are gearing up for another run at the Oscars.
The Coens have been teasing their new project for a while, mentioning back in June that they were at work on a music-based project. This was quickly followed up by reports that they’re working on a film loosely based on the life of Dave van Ronk, an American folk singer who presided over the Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, which give birth to a new wave of artists that included Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Joni Mitchell. Guru to younger musicians, an encyclopedia of blues and folk history, and an accomplished performer in his own right, Ronk was nicknamed “The Mayor of MacDougal Street” which also served as the title of his posthumous memoir, from which the Coens are said to be drawing their material. Well, it’s all pushing ahead as Variety reveals Rudin is back and StudioCanal is co-financing the film which is now titled “Inside Llewyn Davis.”
It appears the upcoming film is sticking to its “loose” inspiration with the writing/directing pair coming up with a new name for their central character. However, we’re mostly curious to see how they will approach the music in the film. Joel Coen previously suggested that the music in ‘Davis’ would be “pretty much all performed live, single instrument,” while longtime cinematographer Roger Deakins stated earlier in the year that they were going for a “16mm Ricky Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker type of documentary” in the style they were looking for.
The Coens had one of the biggest hits of their career with the music driven “O Brother, Where Art Thou” (the soundtrack was recently expanded and re-release to give you an idea of its ongoing popularity) and the prospect of the duo diving into the ’60s folk rock scene is pretty exciting. No word yet on a start date or a distributor, but with TIFF coming up there will likely be more wheeling and dealing around the picture. Now we just gotta ask: can we have Cate Blanchett reprise her role as Bob Dylan?