Coens Question Cormac

By Katey Rich

Photo by Eric Ogden for Time.

Time magazine features one of the weirder bits of press that's come out regarding No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers thriller based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name. The film comes out November 9 but already won raves at the New York Film Festival, including from yours truly. Notoriously press-shy McCarthy had yet to weigh in on any of this until Time's Lev Grossman found a very unusual offer: he was allowed to sit in a room with the Coens and McCarthy, write down their conversation, but not participate in it. "If it were a reality show it would be called Eccentric Genius Island," Grossman wrote.

What follows is less of an interview of McCarthy than McCarthy interviewing the Coens themselves, asking about projects they've worked on that never made it and how the hell they filmed the scene in No Country in which Josh Brolin is chased down a river by a fearsome dog. It also features one of my favorite exchanges I've seen in regards to the Coens' work, in discussion of the category of great American movies:

C.M. But Miller's Crossing is in that category. I don't want to embarrass you, but that's just a very, very fine movie.

J.C. Eh, it's just a damn rip-off.

C.M. No, I didn't say it wasn't a rip-off. I understand it's a rip-off. I'm just saying it's good. [Everybody laughs.]

It's a short, excellent interview. Who knew the Coens are great at my job as well as their own?