Why ‘The Incredible Hulk’ gave the Coen brothers nightmares: “Let us play in the corner”
Even though they aren’t among the countless veteran filmmakers who’ve spoken out against the evils of Marvel Studios and superhero cinema, don’t expect the Coen brothers to make a comic book adaptation.
If anything, they’re among the last names anyone would connect to spandex-clad crimefighters and giant sky beams that threaten the world, even if they did turn down the chance to helm what would become Tim Burton’s Batman because they knew cinema would be better off if they told original stories.
Technically, the Coens have been involved in a superhero film, but it wasn’t an adaptation of an existing character, so the point still stands. Joel and Ethan lent friend and frequent collaborator Sam Raimi an assist when he was developing his cult classic, Darkman, but that’s as close as they’ve ever gotten.
However, for a typically Coen-esque reason, the siblings revealed a recurring nightmare that involved one of pop culture’s most recognisable super-sorts. Gigantic, alarmingly vascular green men with a penchant for ripped purple shorts are enough to make anyone wake up in a cold sweat, but that wasn’t what made them so fearful of Marvel’s Hulk.
When they shared their nighttime terrors, there hadn’t been a movie based on Bruce Banner’s alter ego yet. The lime-coloured colossus was best known onscreen from the delightfully cheesy Lou Ferrigno TV series, with Ang Lee’s Hulk, Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk, and Mark Ruffalo’s recurring role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe a twinkle in the industry’s eye.
In a 2001 interview with Playboy, it was mentioned that Joel had once said, “Ethan has a nightmare of one day finding me on the set of something like The Incredible Hulk, wearing a gold chain and saying, ‘I’ve got to eat, don’t I?” Basically, he’d wake up in a cold sweat after dreaming that at least one of them had sold out, with the Hulk apparently the perfect representation of choosing commerce over art.
“The whole selling-out thing really isn’t an issue because neither of us finds money that interesting,” Joel added, despite the fact that their 40-year career hasn’t exactly left them living on the breadline. Ethan knew where the Coens belonged, and he had no intention of ever venturing too far outside of their wheelhouse.
“The movie people let us play in the corner of the sandbox and leave us alone,” he suggested. “We’re happy here.” Ironically, the very next movie they made after relaying their fears of The Incredible Hulk was Intolerable Cruelty, and while it was a million miles away from a Marvel flick, it was still the one and only time the Coens have worked as directors-for-hire, and it was the first time they’d been accused of selling out.
They’ve dipped a toe into superheroic waters after assisting Raimi with the early drafts of Darkman, but the mere thought of the Coens even contemplating something like The Incredible Hulk is enough to strike fear into the heart of their subconscious. That said, the image of Joel standing on a cavernous set surrounded by green screen and wearing a gold chain while a guy in a motion capture leotard pretends to be a ten-foot-tall monster is undeniably hilarious.
