Coen Brothers Breakup Proves Mercifully Brief as Pair Reunite for New Movie

Joel and Ethan Coen are getting back together for another movie.

During an interview with Empire Magazine, Ethan confirmed that the legendary filmmaking duo has another upcoming project in the works.

“I’m working on something with Joel now,” he said. Unfortunately, he didn’t go into any detail.

The Coen Brothers last worked together on The Ballad of Buster Scruggs which debuted in 2018.

IGN’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs review gave it 9.5/10 and said: “Few filmmakers are as playfully cynical as the Coens, and in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs they haven’t just made a funny, sentimental, exciting and blistering western, they’ve also unlocked their entire filmography for anyone who may have missed the connections before. And there’s no going back now. It’s the Coen Bros.’ world, and good luck to anyone who lives there.”

After that, they went their separate ways with Joel directing his first solo endeavor, The Tragedy of Macbeth, while Ethan took a brief sabbatical.

“Ethan just didn’t want to make movies anymore,” said Joel while appearing on The Score podcast.

Earlier this year, Ethan confirmed while at the Cannes Film Festival that his decision to step away from making films with his brother wasn’t a dramatic one.

“You start out when you’re a kid and you want to make a movie,” he said, as reported by Collider. “Everything’s enthusiasm and gung-ho, let’s go make a movie. And the first movie is just loads of fun. And then the second movie is loads of fun, almost as much fun as the first. And after 30 years, not that it’s no fun, but it’s more of a job than it had been… It was the experience of making a movie. More of a grind and less fun.”

Since then, he directed Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble In Mind – an archival documentary about American singer-songwriter Jerry Lee Lewis that features interviews and archive performances throughout his career.

Thankfully, it looks as though Ethan has found his love of film once more.

Most recently, he directed Drive Away Dolls, co-writing the film with Tricia Cooke. It debuts in theaters on September 22, 2023.

Ryan Leston is a freelance writer at IGN