VOA英语2010年-Coen Brothers Bring New Perspective

Oscar-winners Joel and Ethan Coen set their sights on a classic American western novel for their new film: a story of outlaws¹ and lawmen, murder, retribution and redemption .....a story that was made into a movie once before. Here's a look at the Coen brothers' new adaptation of True Grit².

Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn is a shambling wreck³ of a man: a grizzled veteran of a few too many shootouts, he wears a black patch over one eye and has the unmistakable whiff of stale whiskey about him. Mattie Ross is barely a teenager in tightly braided pigtails, but she is determined⁴ to get justice.

"I'm looking for the man who killed my father. That man's name is Tom Chaney and I need someone to go after him."

"Do you have a lot of experience with bounty⁵ hunters?"

"That is a silly question. I am 14."

Impressed by Rooster's reputation for shooting first, Mattie offers him a reward to find her father's killer⁶, thus beginning the biggest adventure of her young life.

 

 
Wilson Webb
Hailee Steinfeld plays Mattie Ross in Paramount⁷ Pictures' "True Grit."
It's the first film role for Hailee Steinfeld who was 13 when the Coens cast her as Mattie.

"I had to learn how to shoot a gun and roll a cigarette. Those were the two main things that I had to learn," she says.

Steinfeld had to get comfortable with the ornate and formal dialogue that comes right from the pages of the novel by Charles Portis.

"When I first got the script that was the first thing that I really had to work on: making sure that I really understood what everything meant," Steinfeld says, "and then I had to go back through and make sure that I understood what it meant to me emotionally and how I could relate to it in my own life. The accent, just getting on set with everyone talking, it kind of happened naturally."

 

 
Wilson Webb
Jeff Bridges plays Rooster Cogburn in Paramount Pictures' "True Grit."
Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges co-stars as Rooster, a man at ease in the saddle and deadly fast with his six-shooter.

"You know, I used to love it when my dad would play a western," Bridges recalls. "When he would appear at the front door all dressed up in his cowboy clothes it was a thrill to me, so I guess there was some of my dad in there.

His dad was Lloyd Bridges, whose many western roles included several upstanding men with badges; but as played by Jeff Bridges, Rooster is a different breed of lawman.

 

 
Wilson Webb
Left to right: Jeff Bridges plays Rooster Cogburn and Matt Damon plays LaBeouf in Paramount Pictures' "True Grit."
"I was curious why these guys wanted to make that movie again and I think it was Ethan [Coen] who corrected me and said 'No, we're not making that movie, we're making the book' as if there was no other movie made from it," Bridges says. "I wasn't familiar with the book and he said 'Check that out and tell me what you think.' I read the book and then I saw what they were talking about because it is such a wonderful book and what a great character. Most westerns have that strong, silent type and here is this boorish⁸ guy ...so I thought it was going to be a lot of fun."

Of course, it was adapted for the screen once before and John Wayne - "the Duke" - won an Oscar for his performance as one-eyed, drunken Rooster in the 1969 film.

"I never thought about filling the Duke's boots until somebody asked me 'how do you feel about that?' I wasn't thinking about it when I did it. I just did the best I could with the part - what I always try to do," he says.

 

 
Wilson Webb
Left to right: Directors/Co-Writers Ethan and Joel Coen on the set of their film, TRUE GRIT.
The Coen brothers insist theirs is not a remake, but a more faithful adaptation of the book which, Joel Coen explains, centers on the journey of young Mattie.

"What we took away from it more than a western was almost the sense of it being this youthful adventure story or kind of fitting into the genre⁹ of what you might call 'young adult adventure fiction.' That was something really interesting to us, actually, just in terms of how the story worked," Coen says.

In fact, Ethan Coen only reluctantly calls True Grit a 'western'.

"It is a western inarguably. There are guys with six-guns on horses, but it's not a 'Zane Grey' story. It's not a western in that sense and really we were thinking about the novel more than doing a western, per se," he notes.

"What is your intention, Rooster?"

"I am to kill you in one minute, Ned."

"I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man."

True Grit also features Barry Pepper as the bandit 'Lucky Ned.' Matt Damon plays puffed-up Texas Ranger¹⁰ LaBoeuf, who joins Mattie and Rooster in their quest to find killer Tom Chaney, played by Josh Brolin. The frontier sensibility is captured by cinematographer Roger Deakins, a frequent Coen brothers collaborator¹¹, as is musical score composer Carter Burwell.

1 outlaws   

歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯

参考例句：

• During his year in the forest, Robin met many other outlaws. 在森林里的一年，罗宾遇见其他许多绿林大盗。
• I didn't have to leave the country or fight outlaws. 我不必离开自己的国家，也不必与不法分子斗争。

2 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。

3 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 bounty   

n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与

参考例句：

• He is famous for his bounty to the poor.他因对穷人慷慨相助而出名。
• We received a bounty from the government.我们收到政府给予的一笔补助金。

6 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

7 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

8 boorish   

adj.粗野的，乡巴佬的

参考例句：

• His manner seemed rather boorish.他的举止看上去很俗气。
• He disgusted many with his boorish behaviour.他的粗野行为让很多人都讨厌他。

9 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

10 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

11 collaborator   

n.合作者，协作者

参考例句：

• I need a collaborator to help me. 我需要个人跟我合作，帮我的忙。
• His collaborator, Hooke, was of a different opinion. 他的合作者霍克持有不同的看法。