Trailer
Wind back two months and the Coens are on the phone, conference
calling from LA, where they have made a reluctant business trip
from their base in New York. The set-up for Burn After Reading,
they explain, revolves around a couple of hapless fitness-centre
employees (Pitt and Frances McDormand) who find a potentially
valuable computer disc, mislaid by an ex-CIA bigwig (John
Malkovich). Their attempt to wring some money out of the situation,
as ever, finds them way out of their depth: “A Tony Scott/Jason
Bourne kind of movie, without the explosions,” as their own
publicity material has it.
Ethan: We would always say, “What would Tony
Scott do?” when trying to figure out a scene.
Joel: How much to shake the camera.
Ethan: It’s a Tony Scott movie done by
incompetents.
Joel: It’s a bunch of idiots trying to ape his
style. We don’t have any explosions or people running away from
snipers. I mean, we took all the fun stuff out of it.
