It’s been four years since Ethan Coen last made a movie, Netflix’s The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs. Which is notable mostly in so far as it’s only been one year since his brother Joel—with whom he’s shared a career so closely that the two men don’t even have separate Wikipedia pages—put out a film, rare solo project The Tragedy Of Macbeth.
Now it turns out that turnabout may, in fact, be fair play, as The Wrap reports that Ethan Coen is apparently gearing up for his own solo project, in what we can only assume is the second beat of some sort of Parent Trap scenario to teach both adult men about the power and beauty of their relationship.
So far, details on the new film—including, like, its title—are very scant, but we do know a few things. Notably, Coen will be working on the project with his wife, film editor Tricia Cooke, who he co-wrote the script with. Oh, and Working Pictures and Focus Films are both apparently producing.
The sheer fact that Ethan Coen is making a movie is kind of fascinating, though, since one of the talking points around Joel going solo with Macbeth last year was that Ethan appeared to be a bit burnt out with moviemaking at present. (Per an L.A. Times interview Joel Coen gave earlier this year, Ethan told him he was stepping away from directing for a bit after they finished Scruggs. “I knew I’d be directing the next one by myself,” Coen notes.) News that Ethan’s returning to the game with a solo project of his own is thus a bit surprising. (That being said, Joel Coen was also very careful in that same interview to make it clear that there’s been no falling out between the two, going so far as to note, “I missed him a lot” while making Macbeth.)