A Universal Picture
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
– 1 Timothy 2:5–61
Would that it were so simple.
– Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) in Hail, Caesar!
‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,’ Jesus said when asked about the ethics of paying taxes, ‘and to God the things that are God’s.’2 It would be easy to suppose that, in Hail, Caesar! (2016), the brothers Joel and Ethan Coen are themselves paying their debts to the powers that be. By their standards, this looks like a crowd-pleaser all the way: a nostalgic, colourful light comedy with an all-star cast, a loose episodic format and a couple of extravagant musical numbers thrown in. Just the thing to keep the box office ticking over, and to make up for more esoteric, less profitable Coen ventures such as Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) or A Serious Man (2009).
But as always with the Coens, it is necessary to look again, especially since itself proves to be centrally concerned with the stakes of entertainment. The setting is a version of old Hollywood that is itself a Hollywood fantasy: a realm of falsity and corruption, but also a magic kingdom ruled over by an enlightened despot. This is the film’s hero, Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), modelled very loosely on a real-life executive of the same name, the long-term right-hand man to MGM studio chief Louis B Mayer. In EJ Fleming’s illuminating if gossipy book , Mannix is painted as a ‘gambler, womanizer, drinker and mob-connected tough guy’ – predatory even by the standard of Hollywood power-brokers. The Eddie Mannix of shares some traits with his real-life model, especially the tyrannical control he exercises over his studio’s stars. Yet the Coens view him, seemingly, as a moral and even noble figure, a committed Catholic almost equally devoted to the movie business
