Without me, there would be no A Serious Man trailer

So the Internet is a flutter with the release of the latest trailer for A Serious Man, the Coen Brother’s new film. Shot around Minneapolis, and being centered on their hometown of St Louis Park, A Serious Man is a dark comedy set in 1967 about nice guy who always finishes last. Populated with local actors, the film looks to be a loving tribute to the town that the Coen’s grew up in, you know, like Fargo. But what most people don’t know, including the Internet, is that A Serious Man exists because of me (and my boss).

You see the Coens and their cinematographer Roger Deakins were in town shooting some footage on the film stock they wanted to use for the film. But they wanted to see how the film stock would look up on the big screen. A few nights earlier our theatre hosted an event for Tippi Hedren and he met several people involved with film here in Minnesota. When A Serious Man Executive Producer Robert Graf started inquiring on a theatre they could take a look at their test footage, our theatre was the first one to be recommended.

When Robert Graf called I was the Manager on Duty and I was happy to work out an agreement where Robert could come in and we would thread up the film for him to take a look at it. I knew Roger Deakins was in town, so I assumed that he would be the one making the decision.

The day I picked for Robert and Roger to come by to come by both me and my boss were working. I made sure to bring a copy of my DVD of The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford, because Roger Deakins was the cinematographer on it, and it is easily one of my favorite films. I figured since we were letting them use our theatre for free (they offered to pay and we declined), that getting Roger to sign my DVD was a pretty cool trade.

Robert was the first to arrive and my boss was who answered the door. They said hello to each other and my boss introduced me to Robert. My boss asked him if he had the film with him so he could thread up, and Robert simply replied that he didn’t have it, but that Roger, Joel and Ethan did and they would be right in once they parked the car.

It was less then five minutes before the Coen’s and Roger Deakins showed up at our door, but it felt like years. Its not often you get to meet your favorite cinematographer AND your favorite living film makers. Granted I’ve met a few actors and film makers over the years of working at the theatre, but this was leaps and bounds ahead of anything else.

My boss took the film and went up to the booth to thread everything up. He later told me that he had never been so frightened in threading up a film, knowing that it was showing for the Coen’s and Roger Deakins and that it was to see if they would use this film stock for A Serious Man.

But while he was upstairs threading up the film, I had to make small talk with people not exactly known for being gregarious and outgoing. With Joel talking with Roger I decided to ask a few questions to Ethan. Nothing was particularly deep or probing, they dealt more with how often they make it back to St Louis Park and if they still have any family in town, but Ethan seemed to have no problems simply “shooting the shit” if you will, with me. Sure it was obvious that neither of the Coen’s is particularly outgoing, as hey both appeared visibly uncomfortable at first, but I think the fact I was not drooling all over them helped set them at ease.

Once my boss had the film threaded the Coen’s headed up stairs to watch the footage. We had a one sheet for Burn After Reading up since it would be opening in the next week or so, and both the Coen’s and Roger were particularly interested in it. None of them had seen the one sheet yet, and all three remarked that they liked it a great deal. I was stunned to discover that they hadn’t been involved in the marketing of the film, as it was quite obvious they had never seen the one sheet at all. I had always assumed they were the type that have a hand in every aspect of their film, marketing or otherwise, yet here was definitive proof that they only focused on making the movie.

Once the impromptu screening was finished, the group came downstairs and my boss and I asked them to sign a few things for us and the theatre. Roger had wandered off a bit, probably assuming that we would only be interested in having the Coen’s sign things, but instead I said that I wanted him to sign my DVD, as it was my favorite film of the past year. Roger smiled, made a snide remark to the Coen’s, something like “Suck on that boys.” and happily obliged. Now that wasn’t exactly what he said, but it certainly cut through any remaining tension or apprehension that might have existed. From that moment on all three were laid back and, sure enough, gregarious.

We ended up having all three of them sign a poster of No Country for Old Men for the theatre, and then my boss had them sign a Blood Simple poster for him. Sure enough, they hadn’t ever seen that poster either. But while all that was happening, something rather unexpected occurred.

Joel and Roger were having a conversation. Well, no so much of a conversation as Joel was excitedly describing a movie to Roger. Over and over I kept hearing him proclaim “It was fucking amazing!” and as I kept listening, I soon realized which movie he was talking about, it was Man on Wire. Evidently Joel had seen it at The Uptown Theatre while they were in town, and was trying to convince Roger to go see it. It was quite the thrill to see him so passionate about a move he clearly loved. It was an extra added bonus to what was already an experience that had shot past surreal thirty minutes earlier.

I only have one regret about that morning. You see we have an ax hammer in our theatre’s toolbox, for what I don’t know. But since neither my boss or I had seen Burn After Reading, neither of us knew just how integral a role an axe hammer would play in the film. As great as it was to have the three of them sign a No Country for Old Men poster for the theatre, getting the Coen’s to sign an axe hammer would have been truly amazing and downright hilarious.

So there you have it, the tale of how the film stock for A Serious Man was picked. So when you watch the film, make sure to remember that if it wasn’t for me, you would be watching a completely different movie.

You’re welcome.