![]() Long before he was chosen to direct “Breaking Bad” episodes and Disney’s biggest film property, Rian Johnson made his bones in the indie scene with his 2005 debut, which displaces the seedy underworlds of 1940s detective novels into the muddled teenage-infested ecosystem of Southern California suburbia. Additionally, he would tip his hat to the Coens in the 2012 time-travel blockbuster “Looper” by shooting in the same New Orleans street featured during a climactic scene of “Miller’s Crossing”. Johnson would go on to explain how his 2005 Sundance-winning debut was an ode to “Miller’s Crossing”, which in turn is itself a tribute to Hammett’s book. Often touted as one of the finest efforts by the esteemed Minnesotan siblings, this stylish crime saga plunges into a whirlwind of betrayal, reprisal, and petty feuds between two rival gangs during the Prohibition era. I went through a period where I got really into Dashiell Hammett, which I initially found through one of my favorite films, “Miller’s Crossing”’. ![]() ![]() During a 2006 interview for AV Club promoting his noir-adjacent debut “Brick”, Johnson cited this mob thriller as a touchstone in devising the film’s tone and style: “It all started with the notion of doing a detective movie. It hardly comes as a shocker to learn that Johnson, who’s quickly forged a reputation as the king of subversion not least for his unapologetic flouting of genre convention, would find two kindred spirits in the Coen Brothers. ![]()
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