The Coen Brothers Morph The Ballad of Buster Scruggs into a Feature Film

The anticipated six-episode anthology TV series, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, is not exactly what we thought, as it appeared on the lineup for the Venice Film Festival today. The Coen brothers are always surprising us. Variety confirmed that their new theatrical and innovative TV show has turned into a movie and will be eligible to compete this Oscar season. For the Coen brother it’s go big or go home and they often seem to be only capable of topping themselves.

The TV series was originally headed to Netflix to tell six different Western stories in six episodes. Netflix will still be picking up the film, as they seem to be chasing after bigger Oscar contenders recently. And although we are unsure how six hours of stories can be condensed into an approximately two hour movie, the Coens, with 14 Academy Award nominations, report that the film will still be the anthology we were all excited for.

“We’ve always loved anthology movies, especially those films made in Italy in the Sixties which set side-by-side the work of different directors on a common theme,” The Coens said in a statement. “Having written an anthology of Western stories we attempted to do the same, hoping to enlist the best directors working today. It was our great fortune that they both agreed to participate.”

Tim Blake Nelson will play the ostensible Buster Scruggs, and the cast features stellar stars Liam Neeson, Zoe Kazan, and Tom Waits. We are still uncertain about the plot of the film, but given the talented production team and cast, we know it’ll be huge. The Coens are re-teaming up with Inside Llewyn Davis cinematographer, Bruno Delbonnel, for their first venture into the digital realm. That’s right, the dynamic duo is finally giving into the digital age and no longer shooting on celluloid. At least for now. The film will make its theatrical debut at the film festival later this year, but will be seen by most on Netflix.

Featured Image: Tim Blake Nelson in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Courtesy: Netflix