While it appears that the buzz around Netflix’s Oscar chances this year seems to revolve around Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” there’s still a chance that the Coen Brothers’ latest film “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” makes some noise this awards season. Now, as the anthology Western film plays in theaters before its eventual Netflix streaming launch, the filmmaking siblings are talking about their choice to go to Netflix and why it appears that a TV project probably isn’t in the cards.
Speaking to the LA Times, Joel and Ethan Coen recently opened up about the choice to go to Netflix with “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” why Hollywood seems to be contradicting itself about theatrical releases, and why TV confuses them.
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Joel Coen discussed his thoughts about Netflix, saying, “Our feeling was great, honestly. Look, they’re the people who are investing in these kinds of movies now. I mean, there’s a lot of discussion around the way the movies are shown, whether or not they have theatrical releases or just go up on the platform. And we both have opinions about that, and it’s an important discussion.”
He continued, “But I think the more fundamental thing is that they’re the people who are stepping up and spending money on movies that aren’t Marvel comic movies or big action franchise movies and that type of thing, which is pretty much the business of the studios now. We can’t argue with that.”
Spinning off from that comment, the discussion turned towards the recent controversy surrounding Netflix and how the streaming service is starting to loosen its restrictions on release dates, allowing some films like the aforementioned “Roma” and ‘Buster Scruggs’ to get exclusive theatrical releases (albeit small runs) before they hit the streaming service. This is a change from how the company did business before, even with their awards contenders, as Netflix normally released films day-and-date on streaming and on the big screen.
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Ethan Coen explained the filmmakers’ conflicting thoughts about the Netflix release model, “Well, we’re conflicted like everybody. We go, ‘It’s great if people go see movies in theaters.’ But then we go home and watch them on TV.”
Joel added, “It’s true — ‘Oh, a screener!’ [Laughs] In a strange way, Hollywood itself is as responsible for that as anyone else, at least amongst filmmakers. Because what they do is they give you all these DVDs of the movies that come out and instead of going to the movie theater, lazy people like us just plug them into our machines.”
Ultimately, however, the duo agree that they owe a lot of their success to home video, and thus small screens, as many of the films in their filmography that have turned into classics were mainly discovered in the privacy of film fans’ homes.
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“But, you know, we started in the movie business because we had some success, to whatever degree we had it, because it was a point in the movie business when they were starting to make home videos,” says Ethan. “A lot of people saw our movies on home video. That’s always been the reality for us. It’s why we have a career, so we’re not going to start complaining about it now.”
One thing they will complain about, a little bit at least, is the current state of TV. Well, certain types of TV series, to be specific. You see, the Coen Brothers are fans of limited series and short-run series, but it’s the “NCIS,” “The Big Bang Theory,” and “The Simpsons”-style series that they don’t quite understand.
“The thing about TV series that I don’t understand and I think is hard for both of us to get our minds around is, you know, feature films have a beginning, a middle and an end,” says Joel. “But open-ended stories have a beginning and a middle — and then they’re beaten to death until they’re exhausted and die. They don’t actually have an end. And thinking about that in the context of a story is rather alien to the way we imagine these things.”
If you’re lucky enough to live near a theater that’s screening the film, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is in theaters now. The film will be released on Netflix on November 16.