Born On This Day — September 21

Ethan Coen & Roger Deakins 'A Serious Man' (2009)
Ethan Coen and Roger Deakins making A Serious Man (2009)

It’s easy to offend people. People get uncomfortable, for instance, when the main character in a movie is not sympathetic in a Hollywood formula way. Our movies are loaded with things that aren’t to everyone’s taste. On the other hand, there’s a scene in O Brother, Where Art Thou? where a frog gets squished that everyone seems to like. It’s all right to do the frog squishing.

—Ethan Coen