There were enough decent movies this past year to tide me over, but I must admit that ever since Llewyn Davis, I’ve had a magical-cat-sized hole in my heart that only the Coen Brothers can fill. We’ve known their next film is called Hail Caesar and that it stars George Clooney and Josh Brolin (and a blond C-Tates) along with a basic plot summary, but Alex Karpovsky (aka Ray Ploshansky from Girls) was on the most recent episode of WTF with Marc Maron (who also had a small part in the last two episodes of Girls, which were great, by the way), and offered a few more details about the film. He calls it “wacky and zany,” and compares it to The Hudsucker Proxy. You know, for the kids.
KARPOVSKY: This week I did the new Coen Brothers movie.
MARON: I auditioned for a Coen Brothers movie. I auditioned for A Serious Man. The lead. I never got anywhere, I just took a casting event.
KARPOVSKY: Were they in the room when you auditioned?
MARON: No, no. I didn’t make it that far. But you were in their last one. I remember you, you were on the couch with the Asian wife.
KARPOVSKY: Yeah, I had an Asian wife. It’s nice to be invited back, you know? So this week they’re shooting a movie called Hail Caesar here in LA. And it’s set in 1950. Really funny script, kinda more wacky and zany than their last movie, more Hudsucker Proxy.
MARON: What’s it about?
KARPOVSKY: It’s about a “fixer.” Played by Josh Brolin, in 1950 Hollywood, and just putting out one fire after another in the studio-
MARON: Like a studio fixer?
KARPOVSKY: Yeah. And Clooney is one of the studio actors, and gets embroiled into a situation that… uh… needs fixing.
MARON: I like it. I like Josh Brolin. Who is your scene with?
KARPOVSKY: Clooney. All week with Clooney. Fun. Not just me and him, me, him, and a group of other people.
MARON: A good guy?
KARPOVSKY: Great guy. Like genuinely a great guy. You know, it’s easy to say everyone’s great, but… he would never go to the trailer between breaks, he would always hang out with us between breaks, and show us like these really elaborate pranks on YouTube on his iPhone and stuff and just joke around. He’s just a really, really easy-going dude.
Well count me in. Dapper George was born to play a Golden Age-era movie star. And with the Coen Brothers directing, I have confidence that… uh… well, I have confidence that it won’t be Leatherheads. It’s funny that George Clooney is so into pranks and practical jokes. It’s like he hasn’t reached the Bill Murray stage of his career where he realizes that he can literally just walk up to people and go “Ta da! I’m George Clooney!” and they’ll remember it for the rest of their lives.