Believe it or not, Hail, Caesar! has been on the minds of the Coen brothers for years. That’s hardly surprising given the prolific filmmaker’s adoration for all things Hollywood.
“After O Brother, Where Are Thou? [the Coen brothers] pitched me this movie called Hail, Caesar! in which one of the characters is an idiot actor who gets kidnapped by Communists. And the only line they pitched me was Alden’s line, ‘This is bad for movie stars everywhere,’” star George Clooney told us at the film’s recent press day before laughing.
“That just killed me. So they never wrote the script and every time I did press, I’d say, ‘Well, I’m doing a Coens movie next called Hail, Caesar!’ and then Joel and Ethan would call me and say, ‘Stop saying that! We haven’t written it.’ And then they called a couple of years ago and said, ‘Okay, we wrote it, so let’s go do it.’”
In Hail Caesar!, Clooney stars as Baird Whitlock, the biggest movie star in the world in 1951 and he’s currently making the film within the film that shares the film’s title. One day, he’s kidnapped and the kidnappers demand $100,000 from the studio making the movie. Josh Brolin’s studio head, Eddie Mannix, is a tough as nails Hollywood fixer who has his plate full.
He’s overseeing several productions, of which Hail, Caesar! is just one. There’s an Esther Williams-type film starring Scarlett Johansson’s DeeAnna Moran, a Gene Kelley-type sailor song and dance musical starring Channing Tatum’s Burt Gurney and a western featuring Alden Ehrenreich’s Hobie Doyle — who will also head over to Ralph Fiennes’ soundstage to try his hand at a serious drama (featuring one of the funniest scenes ever scripted by the Coens — as seen in this Hail, Caesar! trailer).
Mannix clearly doesn’t have time to mess around with a potential headline-grabbing kidnapping. So, he grabs the money from petty cash to pay off the kidnappers. But, things are a little more complicated than that.
Like the old vaudeville act that used to play on Ed Sullivan, Hail, Caesar! has a lot of plates spinning in the air and for those who have worked with them before, such as Clooney and Brolin, it was a chance to dive back into the world they clearly cherish so much.
For Brolin, ever since he appeared in the Oscar winning No Country for Old Men, he has found a way to be a part of the Coen brothers’ world. “I’ve kind of injected myself into their lives and even with their other movies I wasn’t involved in, I’d watch them edit because I really enjoy watching them go through their process,” Brolin said.
“I remember asking them when they were doing Inside Llewyn Davis what movie they were thinking of doing next, just out of curiosity, and they mentioned this movie and that [Clooney] would most likely be involved. I said, ‘Cool,’ but obviously wanting to say, ‘Is there a part in it for me? I really enjoyed working with you again. Maybe you could pay me more next time because you always pay me nothing?’ And then I got a call asking if I wanted to do this thing!”
For newbies Tatum and Hill, they both said yes having not seen a script or even knowing how large or small their part would be.
Hill heard from the filmmaking siblings via email. “It was so beautifully and hilariously written. It was written in their dialogue, as the Coen brothers. They said it’s a very, very small part and I just said yes right away without reading it. I can’t speak for other actors but I can’t imagine an actor wouldn’t die to work with the Coens,” Hill said.
Tatum’s story was quite similar. “I also got an email from them. You don’t even read the script before you say yes. You can’t type ‘I’m in’ quick enough,” Tatum said.
The 22 Jump Street stars were on the press tour for that film and each was being coy with the other about the opportunity, never realizing they were teasing each other about the same movie.
“We both trying to like humble brag, like subtly brag to each other that we were going to be in a Coen brother’s movie,” Hill said.
“’Dude, it’s great, just got a Coen brother email,’” Tatum added.
“’Yeah, it’s pretty cool, think I’m going to do it,’” Hill recalled. “All the time bragging to each other and it was the same movie.”
Tatum had to jump through a lot of hoops for his role. We know he can dance, but could he sing? Could he tap dance? The part required both and Tatum simply agreed hoping to figure out the singing and tapping part later.
“They asked me if I knew how to tap. I said no. And they said, ‘Well, we’re thinking about tapping, do you think you can learn it?’ Yeah, okay, I can try. Then they ask, ‘Can you sing?’ No, can’t do that. ‘Can you try?’ I was so scared I was going to screw up this movie because I didn’t know how to do the two things they asked me to do,” Tatum said. “They were like I’m sure he can figure it out. I was terrified. Auto tune is amazing.”
Brolin and Clooney each reported that in their common history with the Coens, they’ve always paid tribute to Hollywood’s past in their films. Clearly this is one large love letter to classic movies, and the two stars relished seeing the Coens make their own literal salute to Tinsel Town’s greatest moments.
“They so fascinated, almost every film they do, with classic Hollywood,” Clooney said. “I remember O Brother, Where Art Thou? has a line from Sullivan’s Travels. And then, they sort of used shots that were from Wizard of Oz that they did with Ku Klux Klan members instead. So they were always referencing films. And I think that’s what’s really fun about this film in particular is this is one where they just said, okay. Let’s put ’em all in. Busby Berkeley numbers, you know.”
Clooney turns to Tatum and asks, “Did you ever see part of your dance routine where you’re caught between the two guys… that was Sinatra.”
“Yeah, it was totally Sinatra. That’s not made up a bit,” Tatum said and smiled. “He’s walking through like a party. And I think he’s looking for someone. And these two guys just like, backed up right against him. He’s like, hey, cut it out! Cut it out! They sent me the actual clip. They’ve done it before. It kind of gives us a license to go crazy.
Hail, Caesar! does an impeccable job of capturing life during the so-called Golden Era of Hollywood when the “studio system ruled supreme.” Ever aware that the Coen brothers never do anything without trying to subtly or sometimes overtly injecting a message, Brolin tackles the presence of communists in the film and how in real life they were starting to have issues with the studio system. When Whitlock falls under their spell, it’s Mannix who sets him straight in a scene that Brolin obviously enjoyed. He literally slaps Whitlock silly.
“I think they’re [the Coens] trying to manifest something that they’ve been wanting to do, but it’s illegal, for a very long time. They’ve wanted to slap George Clooney, but I did it instead,” Brolin said.
“The fact that he started to think individually. Even though it comes across as communist. It’s writers saying, “Wait a minute. If it’s our idea, should we get a residual… if they make money? The studio is telling them, “Forget the communist part. We use you for as long as we need to as laborers and then we go off and make the profit.” He goes off to them (points to Clooney) and begins to think individually and Eddie says, ‘Don’t you dare think individually.’”
See, the Coens get silly and also make a point… classic Joel and Ethan.