NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Scripts of all kinds sit in the drawers of home, some to be returned to, some forever abandoned. When writing with his brother Joel over many years, the absurd narrative paths they鈥檇 venture down would inevitably lead to strange mental roadblocks.
鈥淪ometimes partial scripts would stop in mysterious places,鈥� Coen says. 鈥溾�楩argo鈥� we started writing many, many years before we made it and then we stopped at page 70 with 鈥楥arl is humping the escort.鈥� Then the rest of that page is blank. OK, what happens next?鈥�
One script that sat dormant for many years was a screenplay Coen wrote not with his brother, but Tricia Cooke, Coen鈥檚 wife and an editor of many of the Coens鈥� best films. The script, titled 鈥淒rive-Away Dykes,鈥� was . A lesbian road-trip comedy, the movie 鈥� a playfully R-rated, unabashedly queer romp 鈥� channeled the spirit of long-ago sexploitation cinema.
Penned around 2002, the project was shopped years ago with Allison Anders to direct and, at various points, had actors including Holly Hunter, Christina Applegate, Chlo毛 Sevigny and Selma Blair attached. But the financing never came through. Into a drawer 鈥淒rive-Away Dykes鈥� went.
It seemed destined to stay there, too. After 2018鈥檚 Coen dropped out of filmmaking, putting one of the most indelible sibling partnerships on indefinite hiatus. But during the pandemic, their longtime collaborator T Bone Burnett turned up with the idea of making a Jerry Lee Lewis documentary. Cooke and Coen made the film, together.
鈥淲e really enjoyed making that movie,鈥� Coen said in a recent interview alongside Cooke. 鈥淲e thought: 鈥榃hat else?鈥欌��
Their next one, retitled opens in theaters Friday. It signifies both the much-awaited return of Coen to narrative filmmaking and the giddy revival of a dormant spirit of '70s B-movie filmmaking.
鈥淚f it leads to more B-movies being made, bring 'em on,鈥� says Cooke. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something very fun and gleeful about them. I just watched 鈥楩aster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!鈥� again and it鈥檚 just so much fun.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the right word: glee,鈥� adds Coen. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a kind of innocent glee that just doesn鈥檛 exist in movies. You go, 鈥榃hy the f--- not?鈥� We鈥檝e met John Waters a few times and you can stand there with John and just laugh and laugh.鈥�
鈥淒rive-Away Dolls,鈥� which Focus Features is releasing, produces a similar effect. Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan star as Jamie and Marian, two friends taking an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee after Jamie breaks up with her girlfriend (Beanie Feldstein). They鈥檙e delivering a car that was intended for a trio of criminals (Colman Domingo, Joey Slotnick, C.J. Wilson) who tail them, seeking a briefcase of mysterious contents.
Qualley鈥檚 character, a colorful fast-talker, is in the celebrated mold of Coen screwball protagonists past. Part of the film's fun is seeing a familiar Coen vernacular 鈥� memorable lines include 鈥淭omorrow can wait a day鈥� and the poetic phrase 鈥渟lapping ham on the veranda鈥� 鈥� filtered through a new generation of actors and a much different perspective.
鈥淚 kind of represent the queer world," Cooke says. "All of the bumbling men in the movie and all of the caper stuff definitely comes from Ethan鈥檚 mind.鈥�
鈥淭ricia鈥檚 queer and sweet and I鈥檓 straight and stupid,鈥� Coen adds. 鈥淭hat could be the slogan of the movie: 鈥楽traight and stupid.鈥� Me and Joel couldn鈥檛 do that because we鈥檙e both straight and stupid.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 going to tell him you said that,鈥� says Cooke.
Cooke and Coen married in 1990 and have two kids who are now grown. They describe their relationship as nontraditional; each has a separate partner. Cooke and Coen first thought of the title 鈥淒rive-Away Dykes鈥� and wrote it from there, taking inspiration from '90s movies like 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 a Cheerleader鈥� and 鈥淕o Fish.鈥�
鈥淒rive-Away Dolls鈥� is intentionally more gritty looking than Ethan鈥檚 movies with Joel. It's more loosely framed by cinematographer Much of it is informed by Cooke鈥檚 own experiences in lesbian bars.
鈥淭here aren鈥檛 a lot of lesbian genre movies, certainly not back then. I wanted to make a movie that was light-hearted and had a happy ending and felt free and fun. That didn鈥檛 exist in the lesbian film world,鈥� says Cooke. 鈥淚t was important for me to make a playful queer movie.鈥�
Coen and Cooke spoke by Zoom from snowy Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they were prepping another movie together titled 鈥淗oney Don't.鈥� Last summer, though, Ethan returned to writing with Joel. After 鈥淗oney Don't,鈥� the brothers plan to reteam as directors for that movie, a horror film that they wrote fresh, not from an old screenplay.
鈥淲e talked about it for a long time but we hadn鈥檛 actually written anything,鈥� Coen says. 鈥淲e talked about the starting point. It was in a mental drawer.鈥�
What once seemed like an unfathomable split has turned out to be more of a blip. Writing again with Joel, Ethan says, has been as much fun as it always was.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 breaking up. It was just me going, 鈥楿aaagghh,鈥欌�� Coen says, vocalizing his exhaustion. 鈥淚t was great. It鈥檚 always great. But it鈥檚 not like we were out of contact. We see each other all the time, talk all the time.鈥�
When Coen stepped away from filmmaking, he described diminishing returns from his enjoyment in filmmaking and the toll of a handful of more ambitious productions. 鈥淭oo many Westerns,鈥� Cooke succinctly put it earlier. Asked what鈥檚 changed since then about his attitude about making movies, Coen hesitates.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. Working with Tricia is new and that鈥檚 stimulating,鈥� he says.
鈥淓than needed a reset,鈥� adds Cooke.
Coen winces. 鈥淲hen people say 鈥業 was burned out,鈥� I always roll my eyes.鈥�
鈥淒rive-Away Dolls鈥� might suggest a return to a scruffier sensibility. The planned horror movie could harken back to the Coens' 1984 debut, 鈥淏lood Simple.鈥� But Coen is reluctant to ascribe any commonality to his post-reset movies than: 鈥淭hey're not Westerns.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. It was always fun working with Joel, doing those movies. They were a gas, man,鈥� Coen says. 鈥溾�業nside Llewyn Davis,鈥� that was fun going to work everyday. All of 鈥檈m.鈥�
Another thing that hasn't changed is Coen and Cooke's predilection for applying classic Hollywood genres to very un-classic Hollywood stories. If 鈥淭he Big Lebowski鈥� was a Raymond Chandler riff with a Los Angeles stoner for a protagonist, 鈥淒rive-Away Dolls" is their version of In that film, famously referenced in Quentin Tarantino's 鈥淧ulp Fiction,鈥� a sought-after briefcase holds a glowing atomic metaphor. In 鈥淒rive-Away Dolls,鈥� the briefcase holds ... well, something very, very different.
鈥淭hese are the forms we鈥檝e been given,鈥� Coen says of noir and genre frameworks. 鈥淚 think neither of us places any premium at all at being original or innovative which make for people making boring movies in which they express themselves.鈥�
One difference this time is the cast, most of whom aren't Coen regulars. In the film's opening scenes, it's Pedro Pascal clutching the briefcase. Coen and Cooke praise them all, including Qualley ("Her resting personality is at an 11," says Cooke), Domingo and the great character actor Bill Camp ("Talk about an actor understanding," Coen says). At a certain point, they both looked around realized they were making a movie with a bunch of then-20-somethings in Qualley, Viswanathan and Feldstein. 鈥淚t was f---ing weird,鈥� says Coen.
Yet other aspects remain constant for the filmmakers. Cooke and Coen heap praises on Focus' handling of the film, but they've also grown accustomed to how executives invariably respond when they turn in a movie.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny that the studio inevitably reacts that way,鈥� says Coen. "They look at the finished movie and go, 鈥楬uh.鈥�"
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
