Hollywood: Oscar winning directors Joel and Ethan Coen are planning another film together, marking a return to the partnership behind Fargo, Barton Fink and No Country for Old Men.
Speaking to AFP ahead of receiving the Lumiere lifetime achievement award in Lyon, France, the brothers said they hoped to reunite behind the camera soon.
“We’re getting old. It better be the near future,” Joel, 71, said.
The pair have not yet decided which project to pursue. Joel said they have a collection of previously written material, alongside ideas they have discussed but have not developed into scripts.
He also rejected speculation that their period of separate work reflected a breakdown in their relationship, saying there had been no rift.
Their last film together was the 2018 Western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, starring Tim Blake Nelson. It followed their 2016 Hollywood comedy Hail, Caesar!
Since then, both have pursued individual projects, working with their wives, film editor Tricia Cooke and actor Frances McDormand.
Joel directed The Tragedy of Macbeth and is preparing to release Jack of Spades, starring Josh O’Connor, next year. Ethan’s work has included a documentary about musician Jerry Lee Lewis and films including Honey Don’t!
Although they declined to disclose the subject of their reunion, Ethan, 69, expressed little enthusiasm for the fantasy, science fiction, horror and comic book films dominating mainstream cinema.
He said the brothers had never been particularly drawn to those genres.
They also ruled out making a television series, despite their executive producer roles on the Fargo adaptation. Joel said the structure of episodic television did not match how they approached storytelling.
No production timetable or release date was announced for their next collaboration.
