Inside Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke's 'Non-Traditional' Marriage: She's 'Queer and Sweet and I’m Straight and Stupid'

Mar. 15, 2025

Tricia Cooke and Ethan Coen on Feb. 20.Photo:Cindy Ord/Getty

Cindy Ord/Getty

Drive-Away Dollswould resemble aCoen brothers moviein many ways, were it not for one glaring exception: it’s a queer comedy with its fair share of wild sex scenes.

StarringMargaret QualleyandGeraldine Viswanathanas a pair of lesbian friends trekking cross-country while toting sensitive materials in their drive-away vehicle, the new movie (in theaters now) comes from the minds of co-writersEthan Coenand Tricia Cooke, the director’s wife of 33 years.

The pair toldColliderin June thatDrive-Away Dollswas first drafted almost 20 years ago. Cooke called the film “a queer kind of caper that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s very lighthearted and fun and kind of outrageous at times… all of those things.”

Coen chimed in: “And a little sex.”

Cooke added that the movies her husband and his brotherJoelmake — such as award winnersFargo(1996),The Big Lebowski(1998) andInside Llewyn Davis(2013) — differ from the husband-and-wife’s sensibilities. “Ethan and Joel make highbrow movies and we make lowbrow movies.”

“It’s inconceivable that me and Joel could have made this movie,” said Coen, noting the main reason why: “The main characters are two lesbians, and [Cooke] is queer.”

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(Left-right:) Beanie Feldstein, Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Tricia Cooke and Ethan Coen at the “Drive-Away Dolls” New York premiere Feb. 20.Cindy Ord/Getty

In a January interview withMovieMaker, Cooke went into more detail about her sexual orientation and “very non-traditional marriage” with Coen, revealing the two each have different partners while raising their two kids.

After meeting on the set of the Coen brothers’ 1990 filmMiller’s Crossing, Coen asked Cooke for a date. “I told him, ‘I’m a lesbian, I’m not interested,’” recalled Cooke. But a friendship and marriage developed nevertheless.

“Being married to Ethan and being queer there’s always a little disconnect sometimes,” said Cooke, who after years as a film editor began screenwriting. She and Coen wroteDrive-Away Dolls“many, many years ago as a way for us to spend time together,” she added.

The movie, which costarsBeanie Feldstein,Colman Domingo,Matt Damon,Pedro Pascal— and, in an uncredited cameo,Miley Cyrus— is Coen’s first directorial effort since 2018’sThe Ballad of Buster Scruggsand one of his only projects filmed without his brother. (Joel Coen directed 2021’sThe Tragedy of Macbethsolo.)

Cooke is “queer and sweet and I’m straight and stupid,” Coen toldABC Newsin an interview published Tuesday. “That could be the slogan of the movie: ‘Straight and stupid.’ Me and Joel couldn’t do that because we’re both straight and stupid.”

(Left-right:) Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan in “Drive-Away Dolls”.Courtesy of Working Title/Focus Features

Courtesy of Working Title/Focus Features

AtDrive-Away Dolls' New York City premiere on Tuesday, Coen noted that when the duo first penned the script in the early 2000s, Hollywood wasn’t as open to queer comedies. “We couldn’t get it done then,” he toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “People are more receptive to that, it’s less of an issue now than it was then.”

Drive-Away Dollsis in theaters now.

source: people.com