The Big Lebowski: The Making of a Coen Brothers Film
Since their debut withBlood Simplein 1984, Joel and Ethan Coen have created a unique body of work that seems to project their combined imaginations directly onto the movie screen. By concentrating on the filming of their homage to Raymond Chandler,The Big Lebowski, this book provides a great deal of insight into the way that these extraordinary filmmakers take an idea and transform it into a movie.Text and illustrations combine to reveal the Coens' combination of quirkiness and craft, and the ways that the singular (or is it binary?) vision of the brothers combines with actors and crew in the group effort necessary to produce a finished film.  This book doesn't attempt a critical analysis of the work of Joel and Ethan Coen--the complexity of their vision resists such an approach. Instead, we're treated to a fly-on-the-wall view of the creative process, and it's enough to get the most casual film lover to grab a notebook, rent a camera, and start making movies!--Simon Leake