Hail, Caesar! Dvd

Hail, Caesar! is a 2016 American comedy film written, produced, edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film stars Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Channing Tatum. It is a fictional story that follows the real-life fixer Eddie Mannix (Brolin) working in the Hollywood film industry in the 1950s, trying to discover what happened to a cast member who vanished during the filming of a biblical epic.

First talked about by the Coens in 2004, Hail, Caesar! was originally set to take place in the 1920s and to follow actors performing a play about ancient Rome. The Coens shelved the idea until late 2013. Principal photography began in November 2014 in Los Angeles, California.

The film premiered in Los Angeles on February 1, 2016, and was released in the United States on February 5, 2016. It grossed $63 million worldwide and received positive reviews. The film was chosen by National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 2016 and it received nominations at the 89th Academy Awards and 70th British Academy Film Awards, both for production design.

Plot

In 1951 Hollywood, Eddie Mannix is head of physical production at Capitol Pictures. His duties as the studio “fixer” find him corraling its scandalous stars, fending off twin gossip columnists Thora and Thessaly Thacker, and weighing an impressive job offer from the Lockheed Corporation. When unmarried synchronized swimming actress DeeAnna Moran becomes pregnant, Mannix arranges for her to place the baby in foster care then discreetly adopt it, preserving her image.

Baird Whitlock, the dimwitted star of the studio’s major production Hail, Caesar! A Tale of the Christ, is drugged and abducted. He awakens at a meeting of The Future, a group of Communist screenwriters, and is won over to their cause. The Future send a ransom note demanding $100,000 for Whitlock’s return, which Mannix procures from the studio as “petty cash”. He convinces Thora to withhold a story in exchange for information on singing Western film star Hobie Doyle.

Doyle has been hopelessly cast in a comedy of manners and, despite the efforts of director Laurence Laurentz, cannot overcome his thick Southern American accent. When Laurentz requests Doyle’s removal, Mannix convinces him to continue his coaching. Doyle admits to Mannix his trepidation about the role, but Mannix reassures him and confides in him about Whitlock’s kidnapping.

That evening, Doyle attends the premiere of his new Western with starlet Carlotta Valdez, as arranged by Mannix. The pair are accosted by the Thacker sisters, but Doyle spots the briefcase of ransom money, carried by musical star Burt Gurney.

Mannix and Moran meet with surety agent Joseph Silverman, a trusted scapegoat for the studio, who agrees to foster Moran’s child. His dependability proves immensely attractive to Moran.

Doyle follows Gurney to The Future’s beach house but finds only Whitlock inside. The Future have taken Gurney to rendezvous with a Soviet submarine and defect to Russia, but lose the briefcase in the ocean. Doyle returns Whitlock to the studio as the police arrive to arrest the group.

Mannix smacks Whitlock to stop his blathering in his newfound Communist jargon, but then orders him to “go out and be a star” and finish Hail, Caesar! The next morning, Mannix learns that Moran has married Silverman. Mannix rejects the Lockheed offer and decides to remain at Capitol Pictures. Thora informs him that her column will reveal Whitlock won his role in an earlier picture by having sex with Laurentz. However, Mannix persuades her not to run the story as her source, Gurney – being a Communist defector – will tarnish her reputation. Mannix moves on, confident in his role in life.

Cast

Josh Brolin as Eddie Mannix, a tough but conflicted “fixer” who keeps actors’ scandals out of the press.
George Clooney as Baird Whitlock, a Robert Taylor-type film star.
Alden Ehrenreich as Hobie Doyle, a singing cowboy in the Roy Rogers and Audie Murphy mold who is miscast as an urbane comic lead.
Ralph Fiennes as Laurence Laurentz, an acclaimed European film director, long-time resident in the United States.
Scarlett Johansson as DeeAnna Moran, an Esther Williams-type actress who becomes pregnant while her film is in production.
Frances McDormand as film editor C.C. Calhoun
Tilda Swinton as both Thora Thacker and Thessaly Thacker, feuding identical twin sister gossip columnists, mimicking the rivalry between Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons.
Channing Tatum as Burt Gurney, a mysterious Gene Kelly-type actor/dancer. Another of Mannix’s clients.
Alison Pill as Connie Mannix, Eddie Mannix’s wife and mother of their two children.
Veronica Osorio as Carlotta Valdez, a Carmen Miranda-type actress.
Emily Beecham as Dierdre, an actress who appears opposite Hobie Doyle in Doyle’s debut non-Western film role.
Heather Goldenhersh as Natalie, Mannix’s secretary
Wayne Knight as unnamed film extra and Communist operative who carries out the kidnapping of Baird Whitlock.
Jonah Hill as Joseph Silverman, a surety agent who works with the studio.
Max Baker as John Howard Hermann, head of a communist screenwriters “study group”.
Christopher Lambert as Arne Seslum, a Scandinavian filmmaker, who is most likely the father of DeeAnna’s child.
Fred Melamed as Fred, a Communist screenwriter
Patrick Fischler as Benedict, a Communist screenwriter
David Krumholtz as Herschel, a Communist screenwriter
Fisher Stevens as a Communist screenwriter
Alex Karpovsky as Mr. Smitrovich
Greg Baldwin as Dutch Zweistrong, a Communist screenwriter
Clancy Brown as co-star Gracchus in Hail, Caesar!: A Tale of the Christ
Robert Picardo as Rabbi
Allan Havey as Protestant Clergyman
Natasha Bassett as Gloria DeLamour
John Bluthal as Herbert Marcuse
Dolph Lundgren as the Soviet submarine commander who brings Burt Gurney to Russia, shortly before the other communists are arrested and their cell broken up by the authorities.
Robert Trebor as the producer of Hail, Caesar!
Michael Gambon as the narrator