Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke on Queering B-Movies, Political Humor, and Reuniting with Joel Coen
After decades of crafting some of the most influential and quirky black comedies in American cinema, Ethan Coen has found a new creative groove—this time, alongside his wife and longtime editor, Tricia Cooke. The pair has embarked on a bold and irreverent journey into the world of queer genre films, starting with Drive-Away Dolls and continuing with the upcoming Honey Don’t!, which premieres out of competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Together, Coen and Cooke are taking on the conventions of B-movie cinema, infusing it with lesbian characters, raunchy humor, and an unapologetically offbeat tone that’s both refreshing and subversive. Their partnership is not only creative but deeply personal—Coen and Cooke have been married for over 30 years, maintain an open marriage, and identify on different points of the sexuality spectrum, with Cooke being a lesbian. Their work together is not only about filmmaking but about reflecting a lived experience that doesn’t conform to typical narratives—Hollywood or otherwise.
A Departure from the Coen Brothers’ Legacy
Ethan and Joel Coen are among the most recognizable sibling duos in film, having co-directed classics like Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and No Country for Old Men. But since 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the brothers have pursued solo paths. Joel went on to direct The Tragedy of Macbeth, a minimalist Shakespeare adaptation starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, while Ethan leaned into something altogether different—a comedic crime caper with queer protagonists.
His first solo directorial project, Drive-Away Dolls, was penned with Cooke and told the story of two lesbian friends on the run with a mysterious briefcase, reminiscent of the absurd tension and whimsy that define Coen Brothers films but with a distinctly queer twist.
“I saw it as an underserved market,” Ethan said in a recent interview. “You don’t really see lesbian genre films—especially not the fun, dumb kind.”
Cooke agrees, though her reasoning is a bit more personal. “We started writing these stories as a way to spend time together,” she explained. “We had kids, we were busy, and writing was our way of reconnecting creatively. We didn’t set out to disrupt a genre—at first, it was just for us.”
Honey Don’t!: A Queer Spin on Noir
Their follow-up project, Honey Don’t!, continues in the same irreverent vein. Margaret Qualley stars once again, this time as Honey O’Donahue, a small-town private investigator navigating a convoluted plot involving her butch best friend MG (played by Aubrey Plaza) and a suspiciously charismatic evangelist preacher portrayed by Chris Evans. With its campy, noir-meets-road-movie style, Honey Don’t! is as much a love letter to pulp storytelling as it is a critique of modern American culture.
“There’s a kind of cult energy in the film, especially around Chris Evans’ character,” said Cooke. “It’s a little bit Trumpian, though we never set out to be overtly political.”
Still, the film arrives at a charged cultural moment. With LGBTQ+ rights again in the political crosshairs and a second Trump presidency fueling cultural division, Honey Don’t! may inadvertently feel like a statement.
“We’re not trying to make a political movie,” said Coen. “But we’re not avoiding it either. It’s a queer movie in a time when that still matters. And yeah, it’s also a big dumb comedy.”
Cooke added, “I think queer audiences need more than just heavy, dramatic stories. We wanted to make something joyful, raunchy, and stupid in the best way. We’re not trying to represent all queer people—just tell a good story and have fun with it.”
Crafting Characters Without a Halo
What sets Honey Don’t! and its predecessor apart from other queer films is the lack of moral pedestal. The characters are messy, crass, flawed, and often ridiculous—a choice that Coen and Cooke say was intentional.
“There’s this weird pressure that when you’re writing characters from marginalized communities, they have to be perfect, noble, or virtuous,” said Coen. “That’s bad storytelling. Nobody wants to watch saints for 90 minutes.”
Cooke elaborated, “We let our lesbian characters be bad, sexy, dumb, funny—just like straight characters have always been allowed to be. That’s what makes it fun and real.”
The sex scenes in Honey Don’t! also refuse to shy away from explicitness. “There’s a lot of sex,” Cooke admitted with a laugh. “Different types, not just between the leads. And the straight sex? That’s just ridiculous.”
Coen jumped in: “We don’t make it titillating for the male gaze, but we don’t sanitize it either. Honestly, I think some scenes are hot whether you’re a lesbian or not.”
The Personal Behind the Professional
Cooke and Coen’s unique marital dynamic—one straight, one queer, both with outside partners—adds another layer of complexity to their work. While they’re hesitant to over-analyze the connection between their personal life and creative process, there’s no denying that their collaboration is born from a shared sense of curiosity and nonconformity.
“We’re not super self-reflective,” Coen admitted. “We just write what feels interesting to us.”
Cooke added, “I guess being in between worlds—queer, straight, conventional, unconventional—gives us a weird kind of outsider perspective. We can poke fun at all of it, even ourselves.”
Their creative synergy is evident in their back-and-forth, even in interviews. “If something’s sensitive and emotionally grounded, it probably came from me,” said Cooke. “If it’s crude or absurd, that was probably Ethan.”
Coen agreed. “It’s a good balance. We offend everyone equally.”
A Trilogy in the Making?
Though they’ve only made two films so far, Coen and Cooke have playfully referred to their lesbian B-movie series as a trilogy. A third script is partially written, tentatively titled Go, Beavers!—yes, with punctuation. As with Honey Don’t! and their 2016 film Hail, Caesar!, punctuation in movie titles is something of a creative signature for the couple.
“There’s not enough punctuation in movies these days,” said Coen. “It adds flavor. I think that’s the real problem with Hollywood—too few exclamation points.”
Whether or not Go, Beavers! ever gets made remains to be seen. Both Coen and Cooke are busy with other projects—she’s writing a screenplay with their daughter, and he’s quietly reunited with Joel on a yet-to-be-announced film.
“We’ve written something together,” Ethan confirmed. “Actually, two things. But Joel’s about to start a different project, so we’re out of sync. It’ll happen. Just not yet.”
The Joy of Making Movies Again
Despite the quirky subject matter and absurd humor, there’s an undercurrent of joy that runs through Honey Don’t!—not just in the story, but in the way it was made.
“The title sequence was so fun to create,” said Cooke. “It was something we really got our hands on, more so than the rest of the film. It reminded us of the guerrilla-style filmmaking we used to love.”
Coen echoed that sentiment. “Tricia and I had never done anything quite like it together. And even with Joel, I hadn’t done it before. It was just… fun. That’s really the best part of all this.”
For Coen and Cooke, their journey into queer genre cinema isn’t about activism or even about reinventing themselves. It’s about collaboration, playfulness, and storytelling that defies convention—on-screen and off.
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