Barton Fink

Barton Fink, motion picture about a New York playwright who moves to Hollywood, California, to write for a movie studio in 1941. Released in 1991, the film won the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival as well as awards for best director and best actor. After Barton Fink (played by John Turturro) writes a hit play about working class people, a movie studio hires him to write a screenplay about a boxer. He moves into a seedy hotel, experiences writer’s block, and becomes disillusioned with Hollywood. Fink strikes up a friendship with his neighbor Charlie Meadows (John Goodman), who seems to be a run-of-the-mill working man, and realizes how little he knows about the common man. After Fink’s girlfriend is murdered, he finds out that Meadows is no common man—he’s a serial killer.

Director

• Joel Coen

Cast

• John Turturro (Barton Fink)
• John Goodman (Charlie Meadows)
• Judy Davis (Audrey Taylor)
• Michael Lerner (Jack Lipnick)
• John Mahoney (W. P. Mayhew)
• Tony Shalhoub (Ben Geisler)
• Jon Polito (Lou Breeze)
• Steve Buscemi (Chet)
• David Warrilow (Garland Stanford)
• Richard Portnow (Detective Mastrionotti)
• Christopher Murney (Detective Deutsch)
• I. M. Hobson (Derek)
• Megan Faye (Poppy Carnahan)
• Lance Davis (Richard St. Clare)
• Harry Bugin (Pete)
• Anthony Gordon (Maitre d')
• Jack Denbo (Stagehand)
• Max Grodenchik (Clapper boy)
• Robert Beecher (Referee)
• Darwyn Swalve (Wrestler)
• Gayle Vance (Geisler's secretary)
• Johnny Judkins (Sailor)
• Jana Marie Hupp (USO girl)
• Isabelle Townsend (Beauty)

Awards

• Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or (1991)
• Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director (1991): Joel Coen
• Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor (1991): John Turturro

Trivia

• Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen have made several films together. As in the case of Barton Fink, they generally write the script together, then Joel directs and Ethan produces the film.

Quote

• Barton Fink (to Charlie Meadows): “The life of the mind. There’s no road map for that territory. Exploring it can be painful. I have a pain most people don’t know anything about.”