We’ve never considered our stuff either homage or spoof. Those are things other people call it, and it’s always puzzled me that they do.

Frequently we are writing characters and we are thinking, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to see such and such play this kind of a person?” And the character starts to grow out of that as you are writing it. It’s a combination of things that you are making up and what you know about the actor.

—Joel Coen