FRANCE: COEN BROTHERS MOVIE "THE MAN WHO WASN"'T THERE" STARRING BILLY JOE THORNTON HAS IT'S CANNES FILM PREMIERE

Record ID: 848200

  • Title: FRANCE: COEN BROTHERS MOVIE "THE MAN WHO WASN"'T THERE" STARRING BILLY JOE THORNTON HAS IT'S CANNES FILM PREMIERE
  • Date: 14th May 2001
  • Summary: CANNES, 13TH MAY (REUTERS) AERIAL OF CANNES AND SEA WIDE OF PEOPLE LYING ON THE BEACH SCU CANNES FILM FESTIVAL POSTER VARIOUS, OF JOEL AND ETHAN COEN, BILLY BOB THORNTON, FRANCES MCDORMAND (STANDING NEXT TO HUSBAND JOEL) AT THE PREMIERE OF THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE (4 SHOTS) CUTAWAY MEDIA VARIOUS OF BILLY JOE THORNTON
  • Embargoed: 29th May 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CANNES, FRANCE
  • City:
  • Country: France
  • Topics:
  • Reuters ID: LVAC8JMBEA09500K19YSW51JJDRP
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The latest Coen brothers' offering has just been
    screened at the 54th Cannes Film Festival. The Man Who Wasn't
    There stars Billy Bob Thornton and Joel Coen's wife Frances
    McDormand. Although enjoying the Cannes sunshine Thornton is
    pining for his wife Angelina Jolie who is plastered over every
    hotel in Cannes in the Tomb Raider posters. But at least he
    has her tattoos all over him which he proudly displayed for
    the camera.



    The Man Who Wasn't There, otherwise known as The
    Barber, is played by Billy Bob Thornton. His wife Doris is,
    according to actress Frances McDormand, The Bitch. An
    interesting character that her husband came up for her?
    "Yeah, well it's a great challenge isn't it? That's not to say I
    don't have elements of that in my real life, every woman does
    I hope but it was really great to pull it out full force and
    just go for it."
    This is the Coen brothers fifth film to run for the
    prestigious Palme D'Or. Shot in black and white, the film
    borrows much from moody Hollywood crime classics of the 1940s,
    throwing in a dash of oddball humour and a UFO for good
    measure. Everything is seen through the eyes of barber Ed
    Crane.

    " We had a poster hanging in our office which was a piece of
    set dressing on another movie that we'd done and it had all
    these hair cuts and pictures of the hair cuts and the names of
    the hair cuts. And one day we started talking about the guy
    that cuts those, does those, hair cuts for a living. Which is
    kind of a depressing idea which led to the depressing
    character which led to the rest of the movie."
    Joel's brother Ethan (Producer and Co-Writer) adds
    "But the barber's shop itself, you're right, there's something good about the
    setting, I mean it still exists. They're few and far between
    in the States but they still exist sort of classic barber
    shops where I got my hair cut as a kid but you don't see many
    more of them now but it has a powerful sort of. Joel: "Well it
    comes with its own design package like bowling for instance
    (The Big Lebowski) it's true, it's got its own aesthetic."
    The two brothers are unable to talk without finishing off each
    other's sentences and this coherent artistic vision is the
    root of a style of filmmaking that Working Title Executive
    Producer Eric Fellner says is exceptional."I think they're the
    greatest filmmakers today. They write amazing screenplays,
    they direct brilliant films. They're just consummate
    filmmakers and it's a pleasure to work with them."
    Fellner and co-producer Tim Bevan run Working Title Films from their
    offices in London. They're the men behind Bridget Jones Diary
    and Captain Corelli's Mandolin and they have backed Ethan and
    Joel Coen's last five films including Fargo and The Big
    Lebowski.

    Billy Bob Thornton is enjoying a nicotine-free time in Cannes.

    Joel jokes that another optional title for the film was The
    Man Who Smoked Too Much, so much so that Thornton quit
    straight after completing the filming. But although he's not
    missing his cigarettes he is missing his wife who towers from
    posters over every hotel in Cannes at the moment for her star
    role in Tomb Raider. The couple celebrated their first
    anniversary last week in Louisiana, and tattooed each other
    with "secret codes", said Thornton, proudly displaying his
    arms for the camera.

    He's smiling far more than his character does in the film. Ed
    Crane clearly belongs to the film noire genre but Ethan is
    quick to point out that this is only one influence. It's more
    reminiscent of science fiction movies of the fifties, he says,
    post-war anxiety where people are worried about their place in
    society, anxiety about UFOs, atom bombs going off.

    For filmmakers and cast alike, The Man Who Wasn't There, even
    by the Coen brothers' standards, is truly unique.
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