ODD COUPLE PLUS ONE

ODD COUPLE PLUS ONE

Ruthe Stein

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Tom Hanks grew up in the Bay Area, but business is pretty much the only reason he comes back anymore. That would be the movie business, of course.

Hanks came up here the other day, bringing along the Coen brothers, as the filmmakers are almost always identified. Like the Marx Brothers, Joel and Ethan Coen have become a single entity, known by their relationship to each other.

"You can call me Zeppo Coen," Hanks joked.

Hanks has made his first Coen brothers movie, "The Ladykillers'' -- an extremely loose remake of the 1955 comedy about a hapless gang of would-be robbers. They plot a heist in the cellar of an old lady, who is completely unaware of what her renters are up to. The Coens have set their version in the Deep South and turned the homeowner into a Southern Baptist, a great excuse for some wonderful gospel singing. Hanks takes on the ringleader role played in the original by Alec Guinness.

Seated at a round table, the filmmakers and their star talked about how they came to the project and about working together. As you would expect from this trio, there was a lot of joking around, especially from Zeppo.

Q: On behalf of Coen brothers fans everywhere, I'm going to ask why the creative minds behind such startlingly original movies as "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski" would want to direct a remake.

JOEL COEN: To tell you the truth, I think had somebody originally approached us and said, "Do you want to remake 'The Ladykillers?' " we would have said, "We're not interested." But at the point where we decided to do it, we'd already written the script (for Barry Sonnenfeld, who had planned to direct, but then dropped out). We really liked what we'd done and we had this investment in it. Having gone through that exercise, we really wanted to go the rest of the way. So it was just kind of lucky that way, because I don't think we would have just come to it on our own.

Q: Tom, you started out in comedies, but veered away from them. Why was that?

TOM HANKS: I haven't done a movie that's been defined by the marketing department as a comedy in a while. But there was a lot of stuff to laugh at in "Forrest Gump." In "Cast Away," there were a lot of things to laugh at. "Catch Me If You Can," I mean, you know there are comedic things that are in there.

Q: So you didn't worry, "Am I still funny?"

TH: Well, I have a myriad of other concerns. It's on the list but ... I often turn to my wife and family to answer these questions for me. I almost always am disappointed. The nature of the comedies I've always done has never been like doing wacky or crazy, goofy things. It was really inhabit a character and be part of a story that is intrinsically, you know, comedic, and that was the case with this. I didn't have my crack team of show business experts scouring the industry for a comedy.

Q: So would you say you agreed to do "Ladykillers" more because you wanted to work with these two guys?

TH: Well, yeah. I've always said, "What are they up to?" even though we had never really met. I would tell my agent to let me know if a script of theirs crosses the border. If it had just been a remake of "The Ladykillers" (without the Coens attached), I would have said no.

Q: I understand you've never seen the original.

TH: I'm only familiar with it from reading film catalogs and seeing documentaries hosted by Martin Scorsese. I made one remake once, of "The Man With One Red Shoe," back when I literally thought they would allow me to make three movies and then banish me to dinner theater. I watched the original, and I found it to be a real waste of time.

Q: Were you worried that you might be intimidated by Alec Guinness' performance in "The Ladykillers?"

TH: I'm sure I would have been intimidated, and that's the last thing I need. So I didn't bother with it.

Q: What were your expectations about working with the Coens, and did they surprise or disappoint you?

TH: Let's just start with the disappointments. You may have to turn over your tape. Seriously, though, I must say they're no different now than they were the first time we met. It's not like they were shy, retiring wallflowers.

Q: Did you check them out?

TH: Sort of. I'd just worked with Mary Zophres on "Catch Me If You Can." She's done the costumes on a bunch of Coen brothers movies, so I asked her what they were like on a set. She said essentially it's a very nice experience. It's very calm and there's no panicking that goes on. I must say sometimes the production office was so quiet when I came in, I wondered, "Is there a Jewish holiday or something?" I guess the big question was going to be "how do they work together?" because there are two of them, you know. Is Ethan going to sidle up to me and say, "Joel has his head up his butt. Under no circumstances do it like that." The way it turns out is Joel kind of runs the shot, and Ethan is always around with his suggestions. You can ask either one, "What do you think of this idea?"

Q: So there was no sibling rivalry?

TH: Well, there was one day Ethan gave Joel a really bad titty twister and (cinematographer) Roger Deakins had to throw himself in between the two of them. It was horrible. (Laughter around the table.)

Q: "The Ladykillers" is really an ensemble movie. (The large cast includes Irma P. Hall as the landlady and Marlon Wayans as a gang member.) Tom, I was surprised there isn't more of you in the film.

TH: Oh, there's enough. Ensemble movies are the most fun for an actor. After "Cast Away," I said I never want to be the only guy in a movie again because I thought I was going to go nuts. It's nice to have other actors around to bust up the monotony of just me, me, me all the time. Irma has the title role. I want to announce that no ladies were killed in the making of "The Ladykillers." I don't know if they have that thing from the humane society at the end of the title credits, but we should put that up there.

Q: Some people who remember the original "Ladykillers" might be surprised, even shocked, by the dirty language and scatological references in the remake. How did that come about? Do you worry that you went too far in that direction?

JC: No. It's kind of central to the conception of the movie as far as we were concerned, which was to take the bare bones of the original plot and put it into a modern context. You then start to think in terms of the characters, and the characters dictate all those other things.

EC: Marlon's character was conceived of as modern and abrasive, though I must say that Marlon ramped it up.

Q: So are you in the same room when you're writing, like each of you at your own laptop?

EC: We're not that sophisticated. We only have one. I'm usually the typist because I type faster. It's not that I'm doing more writing. We sort of talk it through.

Q: Can you ever imagine making a film without one another?

JC: Not really. I think it was Robert Mitchum who, when asked what he owed the longevity of his 30-year marriage to, said, "Lack of imagination."

Q: Tom, you directed one movie. Did working with these two get you thinking about directing another one?

TH: Well, it made me want to direct differently than I directed "That Thing You Do!" I was so concerned with things I shouldn't be concerned about, like coming up with a bunch of shots instead of letting the cinematographer loose. I've always felt as though I would like to direct another movie again. But I've got a couple of young kids at home still and having directed once and knowing about the vicious schedule and bone-crushing anxiety, I will not do it again until those kids are out of the house or at least have a busier social calendar than I do. Because otherwise you just miss too much. It's just not worth it.

Q: Would you two work with Tom Hanks again?

JC: No. (Laughter.)

Q: Tom, how about you -- would you make another Coen brothers movie?

TH: Anytime they have a Billy Bob Thornton-size role, and he's not available, you two make me first on the list. •
THE LADYKILLERS (R): The movie opens Friday at Bay Area theaters.

E-mail Chronicle Senior Movie Writer Ruthe Stein at rstein@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page PK - 19 of the San Francisco Chronicle