Ethan Coen‘s solo directorial career is going full speed ahead with his narrative feature debut, “Drive-Away Dolls.”
Coen, working for the first time sans brother Joel Coen in the narrative space, co-wrote the screenplay for the queer crime comedy with his wife Tricia Cooke. “Drive-Away Dolls” centers on Jamie (Margaret Qualley), an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, who encourages her demure friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) to break out of her shell by way of a vacation.
The official logline reads: “In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.”
Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, and Annie Gonzalez co-star in the Focus Features ensemble film.
Coen is continuing his solo directing with another upcoming dark comedy, “Honey Don’t!” starring Chris Evans as a cult leader. “Drive-Away Dolls” star Qualley reunites with Coen for the film in which this time she’s on the other side of crime: Instead of being on the run, her character is a private investigator seeking out the truth about what really happened to a mystery woman gone missing, played by Aubrey Plaza.
Aside from his solo filmmaking pursuits, Coen recently teased a Coen Brothers reunion to Empire magazine, saying he and brother Joel Coen are “working on writing something” together after a creative split in 2018. The film is described as a bloody return to form for the Coen Brothers, in the vein (literally) of “Fargo” and their debut feature “Blood Simple.”
Coen previously said that his split with brother Joel was not a “dramatic” decision.
“You start out when you’re a kid and you want to make a movie. Everything’s enthusiasm and gung-ho, let’s go make a movie. And the first movie is just loads of fun. And then the second movie is loads of fun, almost as much fun as the first. And after 30 years, not that it’s no fun, but it’s more of a job than it had been,” Coen told the Associated Press in 2022. “Going our own separate ways sounds like it suggests it might be final. But none of this stuff happened definitively. None of the decisions are definitive. We might make another movie.”
“Drive-Away Dolls” premieres February 23 in theaters. Check out the new trailer below.
