Ethan Coen explained the reason behind his brief sabbatical from filmmaking, during which his brother Joel Coen directed solo for the first time. In an interview with the Associated Press, Ethan also revealed whether he’d be open to reuniting with Joel for another project.

Both brothers, who’ve directed some of the most acclaimed films of the last two decades together, have hesitated about providing reasons behind their split. Their first film together was 1984’s Blood Simple, and their last joint effort was 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Joel’s first film without his brother was last year’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. It was during this time that their regular collaborator, composer Carter Burwell, said on the Score podcast that “Ethan just didn’t want to make movies anymore.”

Now, Ethan has said that the reason behind his sabbatical isn’t “dramatic,” and that making movies became “more of a grind and less fun.” He will return with the documentary Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind, which will premiere at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival. In his own words:

“You start out when you’re a kid and you want to make a movie. 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.”

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RELATED: Ethan Coen's Next Film is With His Wife Tricia Cooke, Not His Brother Joel

Part of the reason that he decided to make Trouble in Mind was that he’d get to collaborate with his wife, editor Tricia Cooke, and that they’d be able to “do it at home,” seeing as it’s mostly made up of archival footage.

Ethan also spoke about the possibility of working with his brother again, and said that it’s up in the air. In his own words:

“None of the decisions are definitive. We might make another movie. I don’t know what my next movie is going to be after this. The pandemic happened. I turned into a big baby and got bored and quit, and then the pandemic happened. Then other stuff happens and who knows?”

The Coens’ split happened around the same time that another acclaimed sibling director duo parted ways. Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski are now working separately, with only Lana having returned to direct The Matrix Resurrections last year. Burwell in his podcast appearance said that he hopes that the Coens work together again, and that they “have a ton of scripts over the years that have been sitting on various shelves.”

Ethan’s next movie is reportedly based on one such script, but not one that he wrote with his brother. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming project is a road trip film that Ethan co-wrote with Cooke in the 2000s. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.