WATCH: Coen brothers’ ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ launches trailer

By: Jen Balboa - 6 years ago

U.S. directors Joel Coen (L) and Ethan Coen. Image: AFP/Anne-Christine Poujoulat

The American writer-director team of the brothers Joel and Ethan Coen are bringing their newest Western, which won the Best Screenplay award at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, to Netflix in November.

Originally announced as a television miniseries, “Buster Scruggs” was turned into a feature film that tells six different stories about the American frontier.

The trailer, at once comic and violent, doesn’t reveal much in the way of plot details but introduces several oddball characters.

Tom Waits is seen briefly as a prospector, while James Franco plays a slow-witted cowboy who nevertheless manages to escape death more than once. Tim Blake Nelson (“O Brother Where Art Thou”) stars as gunslinger Buster Scruggs, the character who ties all the stories together.

The cast includes Zoe Kazan, Liam Neeson, Tyne Daly, Brendan Gleeson, Bill Heck, Grainger Hines, Harry Melling, Jonjo O’Neill, Chelcie Ross, Saul Rubinek, Clancy Brown, Jefferson Mays, Stephen Root and Willie Watson.

The filmmakers reunited with “Inside Llewyn Davis” cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel for the film. Their last Western, “True Grit”, earned 10 Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. Previously, their film “No Country For Old Men” won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” will be released on Netflix and in select theaters on Nov. 16. JB

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