First Look: No Country for Old Men Trailer

Never mind that the Cannes jury ignored it; my fave rave in Cannes was Joel and Ethan Coens' faithful film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, which stars the terrifying Javier Bardem as the baddest ass you'll ever see. He's relentless and scary and this trailer gives you a fair notion of what Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Kelly McDonald and Woody Harrelson are up against in the film. Yes, the Coens inject some of their trademark humor into this movie, which is also damned tragic. The new Miramax/Paramount Vantage trailer will go up on MySpace sometime Thursday. Here's our exclusive preview:

No Country for Old Men will hit the fall festival circuit (a New York, Toronto, Telluride trifecta is a strong likelihood); the critics will rave; and a trailer like this could pull in a wider audience than one might expect. While we all take Jones for granted at this point, Josh Brolin breaks out into serious leading man hunkdom here. And Bardem should get his second Oscar nomination this time--for completely obliterating his Spanish accent, for one thing, he sweated over that. (His first was for Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls. He was robbed for The Sea Inside.)

What do you think?

Comments

[Princess of Peace]

It looks great and I agree that it will appeal to a wider audience than was expected.

[Keith Demko]

This looks just as good as I expected and looks like it will have that great sense of place that is the Coens' trademark

[Peet]

I love it! You're sucked into that world immediately. Too bad the trailer isn't letterboxed, but I get the picture.

[Captain Celluloid]

GREAT trailer -- WRONG ASPECT RATIO --
I certainly expect a major industry pub like VARIETY to
get the aspect ratio correct in your clips.
Please re-encode and UNSQUEEZE the trailer
to a 2.39 viewer or LETTERBOX to 2.39 in a 1.33 viewer.
It is disconcerting to see a mistake like this.

[Anne Thompson]

Variety's media player has a TV aspect ratio.

[JumpingJackFlash]

Looks stellar. Wonder if they changed the ending. That book was as bleak as 40 miles of open desert.

[Captain Celluloid]

Anne; Thanks for replying.
Yes, the VARIETY player is TV aspect ratio and yes, I'm glad you offered the trailer.
The issue is STILL that the aspect ratio of the trailer is incorrect.
Will VARIETY be correcting it?
I can pretty much assume that the trailer did not come from the distributor in that squeezed format. Who decided to "fill the screen" and why? This should not be acceptable to you or to VARIETY. . . . the Coen Brothers, Roger Deakins ASC and the public deserve better. This would never occur at Apple Trailers or even Yahoo trailers.

[Yoho]

Oh man. Thank you to all the pompous/flustered folks out there complaining about the aspect ratio of an trailer. Brightened up my night.

[Southboy]

Ya'll are so smart. Especially about aspect ratios. Thanks for pointing all that out. Before I read your comments I thought I liked the trailer. But then I read your comments and realized I hated it. Ya'll are so smart.

[Ray]

"And Bardem should get his second Oscar nomination this time--for completely obliterating his Spanish accent, for one thing, he sweated over that."

Here's the thing. You don't get Oscars for impersontion, you get them for acting.

[Ti]

WOW! This is my most anticipated movie right now! A movie for grown-ups - 'bout time, Hollywood!

[Denny]

looks great, hopefully a return to form for the Coens after a couple of so-so efforts - those guys are capable of greatness and should be aiming for it each and every time they produce a film.

[Micheline Bale]

WOW! This is an awesome trailer. If my reaction to this trailer is intensified by watching the actual movie, then this will be a film that will be talked about for months to come. Kudos to the Cohen Brothers to make this violent and intense film after their series of black comedies.

[Captain Celluloid]

The trailer is still great -- the aspect ratio is still wrong. If you can't tell that the aspect ratio is incorrect that doesn't make you stupid or anyone who can tell smart.
It's not about being smart or pompous or flustered . . . it is about being accurate. Journalism, new or old, digital or print, should be held accountable to standards of accuracy. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts. . . and again, the trailer is still great and Joel and Ethan and Roger are still probably pissed off about the incorrect aspect ratio. . . go ahead; ask them.

[Matty]

Doesn't look stretched to me, looks like they cropped the trailer to 1:85 to better fit the 4:3 streaming window. 2:35 leaves an awful lot of black area in a 4:3 window, especially when the window in question is so small!

Either way, looks great, can't wait.

~

[Captain Celluloid]

Matty -- YES!! YOU ARE CORRECT SIR . . . . the aspect ratio has been corrected, albeit partially and quietly. Thank you VARIETY
[ and Anne ] altho perhaps an "oopps, sorry, we goofed" statement would be appropriate. At the risk of incurring more flame
the correct aspect ratio is 2.35 not the at least now not squeezed 1.78 here. Look at the great clips at This film is gonna be great.

[captain Celluloid]

Ah ha, parsing other URL's are we? Try this for clips. DOT commeaucinema DOT com/bandes-annonces=76586 DOT html

[Anne Thompson]

We letterboxed it. We'll get it right next time. It looks much better!

[captain Celluloid]

Anne; Classy reply. Thanks

[Joe Sixpak]

Oh good. Another Ultimate-Badass-looking-for-his-bag-fulla'-money flick.

[dastardly]

This is the film that should've been awarded the Palm d'Or, and not that pro-abortion crap.

[Gerard]

It's just a TRAILER - enjoy it!

[Gac]

It's Palme d'Or.
And it's Sixpack.
And no one is pro-abortion.
Pro-choice.
You're giving this film a grand prize just based on the trailer?
God bless America.

[BG]

Why is Variety running two blogs for you now? They owe us an explanation. All your current posting is on the other blog first, often by days.

[Anne Thompson]

We conducted an experiment with a different blog platform during Cannes that has yet to be disconnected--there are arcane technological details involved which are beyond my comprehension, but suffice it to say that I have been trying to keep both blogs up to date. It takes time, and I don't always succeed, especially when I am on the road. It will all be resolved soon, thank god.

[The D]

"You don't get Oscars for impersontion, you get them for acting" - actually you get them for being popular
LMAO at people talking about the aspect ratio on a TRAILER. Ooh, do you work in the industry?

[Sietse]

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=669860293964393332&hl=nl

[guillermo]

que carajo estan hablando de tecnicismos? eso lo que odio de los americanos,si ven algo fuera delo normal ( como en este caso un buen actor como Barden) le buscan 4 patas al gato,no aceptan que hay mejores actores fuera del mundo anglo-hollywoodzado que pueden actuar sin acento y actuar como cualquier psicotico-americano y aun ser el mismo jovial iberico como lo es el.

[Hector M. Barrientos]

I read the book and was thrilled that my hometown (Eagle Pass, Texas) was where the most of the main action takes place. I am looking forward to the Coen brothers'cinematic version. Eagle Pass was where John Sayles filmed Lone Star and also where parts of Like Water for Chocolate takes place.

[Jim Mancini]

Save us from the technogeeks - who gives a rat's ass about the aspect ratio? I read the book and it was one helluva story - can't wait to see the Coen brothers' adaptation.

[j]

should have let the Germans keep Cannes!

[Tom Cotter]

This film successfully stays mostly true to the book, considering the time constraints which limit any film maker, and tells a Burroughs’s style story of homey and hard truths. Not just omnipotence via the point of a gun or good guy out-guns or is outgunned by bad guy. The hero's a thief, in a manner most of us would be. His weakness re-illuminates a trail that was probably too obscure for the organized crime lords to follow, but he wants to get a drink of water to a gunfight survivor before the same sizzles in hell. His intended charity repairs the trail leading back to him and the woman he loves. He's no pansy. He is an ex-Vietnam battle-bloodied warrior, who knows weapons and tactics. His improvisation with his discovered drug money fortune is pretty good. I would like to think that what he did and how he reasoned his predicament and way out was what I would have done, also being a Vietnam vet. But he's being chased by pros who hate and kill everything; even each other. It's fabulous drama ranging from the old service station attendant who's caught up in a flip of a coin between life and death, and a well defined sociopath killer. Excellent performances are provided by all, including crowd pleaser Tommy Lee Jones, whose southern accent sprang him to life as a bit actor in "Love Story" and a bazillion films since.

The Coen brothers; Joel and Ethan, the youngsters who brought us “Fargo” are again showing their genius by bringing to screen-life the grim poetry of master author Cormac McCarthy, educated in Tennessee and an escapee like myself from the US Air Force. McCarthy, who somewhat compares to Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove) is a true man of formidable letters whose literary child has been recreated on film by two of the great minds in Hollywood; A powerful, winning combination.

Javier Bardem the assassin whose name Chigurh (sounds like “sugar”) is indeed the ultimate Bad Ass; there’s nothing sweet about him. He takes on the persona so well that he has that feel of the angel of death. But his formidable presence is matched well against a former guerilla war grunt named Llewelyn Moss (and with a name like Llewelyn, you’ve got to be tough). John Brolin (son of James Brolin and husband to Diane Lane) plays that good ol’ boy well enough to have been Tommy Lee Jone’s kid. He knows weapons and he’s willing to kill and he knows how. His performance is the obverse side of that played by Bardem’s Chigurh.

For all his star power, Woody Harrelson played a relatively minor role in this film. But he did it superbly as he’s done every role since his innocent, country boy in Cheers. It’s easy to believe that Kelly MacDonald’s country accent makes her a true southern girl wife to Llewelyn. Amazing when one knows her true voice is extremely British and aristocratic. But tell her to be a dishwater trailer housewife, and she performs on queue.

Garrett Dillahunt is a continuing pleasant surprise. He first came to my attention in “Deadwood” then “John from Cincinnati,” two excellent TV series done by HBO, and both way-prematurely cancelled. He has great range and will undoubtedly be one of the major stars of tomorrow. His part is an excellent counterpart to Tommy Lee Jone’s portrayal of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, running a county that has no laws, as is the case with all counties in Texas. Tess Harper has morphed from that pale blue eyed sex symbol for the girl-next-door affectionatos to that pale blue eyed aging, but beautiful wife of Sheriff Ed Tom.

The music is excellently crafted and the scenes are shot crispy and tell their own story in that range of consciousness as one cannot escape taking on the role of a Llewelyn Moss, a country boy turned rattle snake taking on that final episode of the uncaring, unforgiving, unredeemed and unrepentant, life extinguishing mongoose Chigurh.

This is a movie to see, a book to read, and a DVD to buy and keep for decades to come.

Dr. H. Thomas Cotter,
Friends of Hahnemann
Bakersfield, California
12-3-2007

[Sha]

Could someone please comment on the ending? Hanging just does not seem sufficient and what was Tommy Lee Jones resighting?

[David C.]

This is the thread you want:

http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2007/11/no-country-for.html

[purnima]

Our experience is as good

purnima

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[purnima]

It will all be resolved soon, thank god.

purnima

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