Angelina Jolie is heading to the top shelf for her next directorial effort.  Jolie signed on to helm Universal’s adaptation of author Laura Hillenbrand’s non-fiction bestseller Unbroken in December, and after a prolonged search to put a writer on the project, Jolie has roped in none other than Joel and Ethan Coen to rewrite the script.  The book tells the incredible true story of Louis Zamperini, a former Olympian and WWII bombardier whose plane crashed at sea in 1943.  Zamperini and two crewmates floated adrift for 47 days and 2000 miles, eventually finding themselves caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a POW camp where Zamperini was targeted by a sadistic overseer.

Hit the jump for more, including a full synopsis for the book.

Writers/directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest film, Inside Llewyn Davis, has secured distribution.  The Brothers Coen produced the film without a domestic distributor, and following a screening for potential buyers last week, a bidding war broke out between studios that were vying to acquire the pic.  CBS Films came out the victor, and the studio will now handle the domestic distribution of the drama that takes place in the folk music scene of New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1960s.  Oscar Isaac (Drive) stars as the titular singer/songwriter who struggles to find his way, with Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Garrett Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham, and John Goodman rounding out the impressive cast.

The film debuted an absolutely fantastic trailer a couple of weeks ago, and rumors have swirled that it might be making its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.  No firm release date has been set, but look for Inside Llewyn Davis to be a major awards player later this year.  Hit the jump to read the press release.

Even before watching the trailer, my most anticipated film of 2013 was the Coen Brothers‘ Inside Llewyn Davis simply because it’s from the Coen Brothers.  Joel and Ethan Coen could do a toothpaste commercial, and I would consider it a must-see event.  Davis stars Oscar Isaac as the eponymous folk singer/songwriter who struggles to find his way in New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1961.  While the movie is based on The Mayor of Macdougal Street, the posthumous 2005 memoir by godfather of the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene, Dave Von Ronk, author Elijah Wald (who compiled the memoir from Ronk’s reminiscences) tells the New York Times that in Inside Llewyn Davis, “The character is not at all Dave, but the music is.”

Hit the jump for more including two new images.  The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Garrett Hedlund, and John Goodman.

The first trailer for the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis is now available.  The story centers on the titular folk singer/songwriter, played by Oscar Isaac, who struggles to find his way in New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1960s.  The trailer shows us that, although he’s not overtly a ne’er-do-well, everyone around him sure does seem to despise him quite a bit.  Llewyn’s lover Jean Berkey (Carey Mulligan) is particularly vicious while John Goodman’s character appears to be more of a curmudgeonly businessman/agent type, with some apparent health problems.

Also starring Justin Timberlake, Garret Hedlund, Adam Driver and F. Murray Abraham, Inside Llewyn Davis opens later this year.  Hit the jump to see the trailer.

Fans of the 1996 Coen Brothers’ classic Fargo may be interested to know that FX is looking at the property for translation into a TV series. While reports indicate that the talks between the network and MGM Television are in their infancy, MGM is on the lookout for opportunities to turn their extensive list of properties (for example, Teen Wolf) into programs for the small screen. Variety reports that there is no certainty of a deal at this time and it is unclear whether or not the interested parties have a scribe in mind to recreate the Coen Brothers’ black humor that worked well enough to earn them an Oscar the first time around.

Hit the jump to see how FX’s American Horror Story is hoping to bring home an Emmy.

We’re more than happy to report all things Coen Brothers, but I’ll admit the first photos from the set of Inside Llewyn Davis were pretty dull.  I love signage as much as the next guy, but now we’ve got some good set photos to show you.  The new images show off lead actors Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, and Justin Timberlake, and the male cast members have gone bearded.  The film is set in 1960s Greenwich folk scene, so the actors look period-appropriate.  I’m not sure why Isaac is carrying around a cat, but I’m sure the cat digs his beard.  Cats love beards almost as much as they like Internet memes.

Hit the jump to check out the set photos.  The film also stars Garrett Hedlund, Stark Sands, and John Goodman.

The first set photos from the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis have gone online.  The film follows a young musician (Oscar Isaac) trying to make it in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene.  Filming is underway in Manhattan and the production has sent the shooting location back to the 60s.  It’s looking good, although the Coens could just charge onto the set of Mad Men and say “Everything here is ours now.  Our Oscars trump your Emmys.”  This is a sound plan and I believe Joel and Ethan Coen should seriously consider it.

Hit the jump to check out the set photos.  The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Garrett Hedlund, Stark Sands, and John Goodman.

With the pedigree that Joel and Ethan Coen have established in the last 25 years, the lead roles in their pictures are very much coveted. Some of the most iconic characters in recent memory have been from Coen films, from The Dude to Anton Chigurh to the reimagining of Rooster Cogburn. Now, rising star Oscar Isaac (Drive) can count himself among those rare talents, having landed the lead in the next Coen brothers’ picture, Inside Llewyn Davis. The film focuses on the 60s folk music scene in New York’s Greenwich Village, including such icons as Tom Paxton and Dave Van Ronk. Hit the jump for more on the project.

After dishing out a new film every year for the past year, 2011 will be Coen-less.  But that doesn’t mean the Oscar-winning brothers aren’t at work on their next project.  As we reported over the summer, Joel and Ethan Coen are working on a “music-intensive” project and that the film would be “loosely based one of the 1960s Greenwich Valley folk scene’s most revered names: Dave Van Ronk.”  Variety now reports that the film will be entitled Inside Llewyn Davis and “centers around Llewyn Davis’ struggles as a folk musician during the genre’s 1960s heyday in New York City.”  That pretty much follows what we had heard thus far and it sounds pretty great.  The Coens have heavily used bluegrass (O Brother, Where Are Thou?) and gospel (The Ladykillers) in the past and I can’t wait to see what they do with folk music.

On a related note, the Coen Brothers will reteam with producer Scott Rudin while Studio Canal will co-finance and handle international sales for the flick.  Rudin previously worked with the Coens on No Country for Old Men and True Grit and that worked out pretty well.  Now that there’s financing, hopefully this film will speed into production and we can get our next Coen film by 2012.

It’s strange to have watched the cult of The Big Lebowski grow since release. The film was Joel and Ethan Coen’s follow-up to Fargo, which was an academy award-winning crime drama with a funny center. After the disastrous The Hudsucker Proxy (which has also gained a cult following) Fargo put the boys back in good graces, but the story of Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), and the kidnapping that turns him into amateur sleuth with sidekick Walter Sobchek (John Goodman) was greeted as a sophomore slump. Now it’s revered as a masterpiece. Our review of the limited edition Blu-ray of The Big Lebowski follows after the jump.

A few weeks ago we brought you some quotes from the Coen Brothers’ appearance at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center in New York which suggested that their next film would be music-centric. At that time, the key quote came from Joel Coen who claimed:

“We’re working on a movie now that has music in it but it’s pretty much all performed live, single instrument…”

Today, 24 Frames is doing its best uncover more info behind the project and is reporting that the pic may center on one of the Greenwich Valley folk scene’s most revered names: Dave Van Ronk. Per the report, the Coen’s script is “loosely based” on van Ronk’s life as an influential musician and left-wing activist, and may even draw from Van Ronk’s posthumous memoir entitled The Mayor of MacDougal Street. If it comes to fruition, the project would be the Coens’ second musically-intensive film with the first being 2000′s O Brother, Where Art Thou? which garnered two Oscar nods. For a little more on the project, including a synopsis of Van Ronk’s memoir, hit the jump.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center held an hour-long discussion between Joel and Ethan Coen and fellow filmmaker Noah Baumbach.  Normally I’d bitch and moan about how jealous I was not to be there and then cry myself to sleep.  But not today!  Filmlinc.com has kindly posted the discussion online and I know what I’ll be watching when I get off work today.  Some of the topics covered include how the Coens open their movies, their use of voice-over, how they use misdirection, and how their films compare to Baumbach’s.  The interview is also worth watching because the Coens rarely speak about the films and instead prefer to let them stand on their own.  People continue to speculate on the symbolism of the hat in Miller’s Crossing.

Hit the jump to check out the video and quotes pulled from the interview.

The Coen brothers have no problem picking and choosing what they want to do next, and might be utilizing music as a major part of their next film. While Joel and Ethan Coen were gathered with Noah Baumbach to discuss film intros at the new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center in New York, they briefly touched on what appears to be an unannounced project. The Coen brothers have a long list of potential projects but they seem to suggest this unnamed film is what they are working on now. For more on the project and what the Coens had to say, hit the jump.

CBS Films has acquired distribution rights to the Joel and Ethan Coen-scripted remake to the 1966 Michael Caine-Shirley MacClaine caper comedy Gambit. The remake, from director Michael Hoffman (The Last Station), is set to star Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz. Firth will play a London art curator who plots an elaborate scheme to con a wealthy collector into buying a fake Monet painting. As part of the ruse, he recruits a Texas steer roper (Diaz) to play the part of a woman whose grandfather liberated the painting at the end of WWII.

Deadline reports that filming is set to begin in London this May. It appears that this will be the first film Firth will shoot following his Oscar win last month for his brilliant turn in The King’s Speech. Relatively new to the movie-making business, CBS Films recently scored a hit with The Mechanic and currently has the fantasy-romance Beastly in theaters. Diaz will next be seen in the R-rated comedy Bad Teacher.

The Coen Brothers have shown that they can do just about anything.  They can bend any genre, they can hit any tone, and they’ve hit a winning streak that shows no sign of slowing down.  But what will be their follow-up to True Grit?  Ethan Coen tells Empire that they might be going into the horror business.  When Coen was asked if they would ever do a film in the horror genre, he replied:

“Funny you should ask, yes, we’re working on a couple of scripts now, one of which it would be fair to call a full-on horror movie. Frances McDormand is the monster.”

The part about McDormand may be a joke (she’s his sister-in-law), but it would be awesome to see them go into the horror genre.  They’ve never shied away from the horrific, but to see them pursue a film firmly in the genre and seeing how they’ll twist it sounds like it could be incredible.  Hit the jump for Coen had to say about their other potential projects.