Known for Directing
Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) is an American filmmaker, working with his brother, Ethan Coen, together known as the Coen brothers(/ˈkoʊən/). Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Among their most acclaimed works are Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), No Country for Old Men (2007), A Serious Man (2009), True Grit (2010) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). The brothers generally write, direct and produce their films jointly. However, due to regulations, Joel received sole directing credit while Ethan received sole production credit until The Ladykillers (2004). From then on, they would be credited as directors and producers and shared editing credits under the alias Roderick Jaynes. The duo started directing separately in the 2020s, resulting in Joel's The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), Ethan's Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind (2022) and Drive-Away Dolls (2024). Together, they have been nominated for 13 Academy Awards and one individual nomination. They share Best Original Screenplay for Fargo and Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for No Country for Old Men. They won the Palme d'Or for Barton Fink at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. The Coens have written films for other directors, including Sam Raimi's Crimewave (1985), Angelina Jolie's World War II biopic Unbroken (2014) and Steven Spielberg's Cold War drama Bridge of Spies (2015). They produced Terry Zwigoff's Bad Santa (2003) and John Turturro's Romance and Cigarettes (2005). Ethan is also a writer of short stories, theatre and poetry. They are known for their distinctive stylistic trademarks, including genre hybridity. No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man and Inside Llewyn Davis was included in the BBC's 2016 poll of the greatest motion pictures since 2000. In 1998, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Fargo among the 100 greatest American movies. Richard Corliss wrote of the Coens: "Dexterously flipping and reheating old movie genres like so many pancakes, they serve them fresh, not with syrup but with a coating of comic arsenic." Description above from the Wikipedia article Coen brothers, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Born
November 29, 1954 (age 71)
Birthplace
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Filmography
113 films, 7 shows


The Tragedy of Macbeth
2021 · 1h 45m · US
Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.


The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
2018 · 2h 12m · US
Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West to an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.


Hail, Caesar!
2016 · 1h 46m · UK
When a Hollywood star mysteriously disappears in the middle of filming, the studio sends their fixer to get him back.


Inside Llewyn Davis
2013 · 1h 45m · FR
In Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, gifted but volatile folk musician Llewyn Davis struggles with money, relationships, and his uncertain future.


True Grit
2010 · 1h 50m · US
Following the murder of her father by a hired hand, a 14-year-old farm girl sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. Marshal she can find—a man with 'true grit'—Reuben J. 'Rooster' Cogburn.


A Serious Man
2009 · 1h 46m · US
It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. He scrambles to find a semblance of meaning as he loses control of nearly every aspect of his life.


Burn After Reading
2008 · 1h 36m · US
When a disc containing memoirs of a former CIA analyst falls into the hands of gym employees, Linda and Chad, they see a chance to make enough money for Linda to have life-changing cosmetic surgery. Predictably, events whirl out of control for the duo, and those in their orbit.


No Country for Old Men
2007 · 2h 2m · US
Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.


To Each His Own Cinema
2007 · 1h 40m · FR
Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.


Paris Je T'aime
2006 · 2h · FR
Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.


The Ladykillers
2004 · 1h 44m · US
An eccentric, if not charming Southern professor and his crew pose as a band in order to rob a casino, all under the nose of his unsuspecting landlord – a sharp old woman.


Intolerable Cruelty
2003 · 1h 40m · US
A revenge-seeking gold digger marries a womanizing Beverly Hills lawyer with the intention of making a killing in the divorce.


The Man Who Wasn't There
2001 · 1h 56m · UK
A tale of murder, crime and punishment set in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane, a barber in a small California town, is dissatisfied with his life, but his wife Doris' infidelity and a mysterious opportunity presents him with a chance to change it.


O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2000 · 1h 47m · FR
In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them.


The Big Lebowski
1998 · 1h 57m · UK
Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker who only wants to bowl and drink White Russians, is mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire, and finds himself dragged into a strange series of events involving nihilists, adult film producers, ferrets, errant toes, and large sums of money.


Fargo
1996 · 1h 38m · UK
Jerry Lundegaard is a small-town Minnesota car salesman deeply in debt and willing to do almost anything to get out. Police chief Marge Gunderson discovers a string of violent crimes as Jerry's schemes spiral out of control.


The Hudsucker Proxy
1994 · 1h 51m · UK
A naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam.


Barton Fink
1991 · 1h 57m · UK
A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.


Miller's Crossing
1990 · 1h 55m · US
Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.


Raising Arizona
1987 · 1h 34m · US
When a childless couple—an ex-con and an ex-cop—take one of a wealthy family’s quintuplets to raise as their own, their lives grow more complicated than anticipated.


Blood Simple
1985 · 1h 37m · US
The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.