The sequel to ‘Barton Fink’ the Coen brothers never made
While the likes of The Big Lebowski, Fargo and No Country For Old Men often take the limelight when it comes to discussions of the best movie the Coen brothers have ever made, more discussion should be reserved for their 1991 black comedy psychological thriller Barton Fink, starring John Turturro and John Goodman.
Taking place in 1941, Turturro plays a New York City playwright who is hired by a film studio in Hollywood to write scripts. The movie examines the relationship between high and lowbrow cultures, the realities of working in the creative industry and how intellectuals perceive the everyday person.
Fans of the iconic comedy might be interested to learn that the Coens had planned to make a sequel at one point with Turturro reprising his role. However, they may be equally dismayed to discover that it looks as though the project will never see the light of day.
“It would be called ‘Old Fink’,” Joel once told MTV, with Ethan adding, “We did talk to [John] Turturro about doing ‘Old Fink’. We want John to be old enough to do it.” So, how long might it have taken for Turturro to be old enough to play Fink once again? Well, the answer, according to the Coens’ plans, was around 26 years.
“That’s another 1967 movie,” Joel said, referencing A Serious Man, which they had been promoting at the Toronto International Film Festival at the time and was also set during the politically turbulent era. “It’s the summer of love, and [Fink is] teaching at Berkeley. He ratted on a lot of his friends to the House Un-American Activities Committee.”
Ethan then noted, “He’s got the George Kaufman hair, but he’s going grey,” Ethan said. “He wears a medallion.” If Turturro was to be 26 years old to reprise his brilliant role, then the Coens wouldn’t have been able to make ‘Old Fink’ until around 2017, when he would have been 56 years old”.
“We told Turturro this is one sequel we’d actually like to make but not until he was actually old enough to play the part,” Joel said with Ethan humorously signing off, “He’s getting there.” Now, of course, the Coens did not manage to make the prospective sequel to Barton Fink, but what a project it might have been.
In 2017, the year the film might have been released, Turturro starred in the comedy Landline and the Transformers movie The Last Knight. Meanwhile, the Coens were somewhere between 2016’s Hail, Caesar! and 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. The Barton Fink sequel never materialised, and unless the Coens suddenly decide to bring Turturro back before he really does get too old, then it looks as though it never will.
Check out the trailer for the original Barton Fink below.
