Ethan Coen to direct a solo feature, three years after announcing his retirement from movies

The Coen brothers went their own ways last year after Ethan Coen announced that he is "giving movies a rest" to work on playwriting. However, he will now reportedly be helming his first solo outing, a road trip movie that he has co-written with his wife Tricia Cooke.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ethan's untitled venture is based on a script he and Cooke wrote back in mid-2000s, and is a "Russ Meyer-inspired action sex comedy."

Focus Features is producing along with Working Title. The film is likely to go on floors this summer, but there is no word on who the cast members are. Previously, Selma Blair, Holly Hunter, Christina Applegate and Chloe Sevigny were among the many actors attached to the project.

THR mentions that the film was initially going to be directed by Allison Anders, whose filmography includes Gas Food Lodging (1992). "The story centers on a party girl who takes a trip from Philadelphia to Miami with her buttoned-up friend. Along the way, they cruise the bars and encounter, among other obstacles, a severed head in a hatbox, a bitter ex-girlfriend, a mystery briefcase and an evil senator," the report states.

Ethan and Joel Coen are known for collaborating on films like Fargo and No Country for Old Men and 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, which was their last project together. 

Last year, Joel directed The Tragedy of Macbeth (streaming on Apple TV+) with Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in lead roles. 

Also read — The Tragedy of Macbeth review: Joel Coen’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s play is a one-of-a-kind experience