BARTON FINK

Screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen
Directed by Joel Coen

John Turturro
John Goodman
Judy Davis
Michael Lerner

Premiere date: May 1991 (Cannes Film Festival)
R for language and some scenes of violence.

Barton Fink is a Broadway playwright lured to Hollywood with the promise of untold riches by a boorish studio chieftain. Despising the film capital and everything it stands for, Barton Fink comes down with an acute case of writer's block. He is looked after by a secretary who has been acting as a ghost writer for an alcoholic screenwriter. Also keeping tabs on Fink is a garrulous traveling salesman, the most likable, stable character in the picture. And then comes the plot twist to end all plot twists, plunging Barton Fink into a surreal nightmare that would make Hieronymus Bosch look like a house painter.

Cannes Film Festival
Palme d'Or (unanimously)
Best Director
Best Actor - John Turturro

3 Academy Award Nominations
Best Supporting Actor - Michael Lerner
Best Art Direction
Best Costume Design