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Inside Llewyn Davis: The Screenplay
Includes the complete script, lryics and stills
Interview with executive music producer T. Bone Burnett
Introduction by muic historian Elijah Wald
Quintessential Coen brothers fare – but different. Inside Llewyn Davis has a certain kinship with Les Misérables . In it, almost all the principal actors – Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake – sing. While not quite a musical, Inside Llewyn Davis is built around full-length performances of folk songs that were heard in the grubby cafes of the Village in a year when Bob Dylan, who kind of, sort of shows up in the movie, had just appeared on the scene.
Bob Dylan, Paul Clayton, the Rev. Reverend Gary Davis, Joni Mitchell, Tom Paxton and myriad other singers of the era are invoked in the film. Its story bounces through actual places like Gerde's, the Gaslight Café and the Gate of Horn in Chicago without explicitly portraying real artists or folk music powers like the impresario Albert Grossman.
Working with the producer Scott Rudin, their collaborator on both True Grit and No Country for Old Men , the Coen Brothers shot the film in New York City and elsewhere last year and finished the movie at their own pace. They could have rushed it into the Oscar season but chose to bide their time.
T. Bone Burnett, who provided the old time music of O Brother, Where Art Thou? , also produced the music for Inside Llewyn Davis . Mr. Burnett has helped to re-create the brief flowering of a folk scene that in the early '60s made Washington Square and its environs an unlikely crossroads for musical influences from Appalachia, the Deep South, the Far West, New England – almost anywhere but New York's neighborhoods, from which some of its heartiest practitioners, and Llewyn Davis, arrived.
Interview with executive music producer T. Bone Burnett
Introduction by muic historian Elijah Wald
Quintessential Coen brothers fare – but different. Inside Llewyn Davis has a certain kinship with Les Misérables . In it, almost all the principal actors – Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake – sing. While not quite a musical, Inside Llewyn Davis is built around full-length performances of folk songs that were heard in the grubby cafes of the Village in a year when Bob Dylan, who kind of, sort of shows up in the movie, had just appeared on the scene.
Bob Dylan, Paul Clayton, the Rev. Reverend Gary Davis, Joni Mitchell, Tom Paxton and myriad other singers of the era are invoked in the film. Its story bounces through actual places like Gerde's, the Gaslight Café and the Gate of Horn in Chicago without explicitly portraying real artists or folk music powers like the impresario Albert Grossman.
Working with the producer Scott Rudin, their collaborator on both True Grit and No Country for Old Men , the Coen Brothers shot the film in New York City and elsewhere last year and finished the movie at their own pace. They could have rushed it into the Oscar season but chose to bide their time.
T. Bone Burnett, who provided the old time music of O Brother, Where Art Thou? , also produced the music for Inside Llewyn Davis . Mr. Burnett has helped to re-create the brief flowering of a folk scene that in the early '60s made Washington Square and its environs an unlikely crossroads for musical influences from Appalachia, the Deep South, the Far West, New England – almost anywhere but New York's neighborhoods, from which some of its heartiest practitioners, and Llewyn Davis, arrived.
190 pages, Paperback
First published October 17, 2013
7 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Joel Coen
39 books80 followersJoel Coen and Ethan Coen, known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are four-time Academy Award winning American filmmakers. For more than twenty years, the pair have written and directed numerous successful films, ranging from screwball comedies (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy) to film noir (Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country for Old Men), to movies where genres blur together (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and Barton Fink). The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly, although until recently Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing. They often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. They are known in the film business as "the two-headed director", as they share such a similar vision of what their films are to be that actors say that they can approach either brother with a question and get the same answer.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 10, 2016
I love this movie so I had to read the screenplay. The movie leaves you with some questions, it's implied that there are much deeper meanings throughout the movie but at times it can be hard to decipher. I was hoping the screenplay would answer some of those questions but unfortunately it's all still a bit mysterious to me. I'll just have to re-watch the movie 100 more times until I completely grasp everything.
"Tell him Llewyn has the cat"
"Llewyn...is the cat?
"Tell him Llewyn has the cat"
"Llewyn...is the cat?
January 3, 2017
existing is hard when you don't want to just exist my boy
July 12, 2025
The beautiful introduction by former couchsurfer Elijah Wild describes a dark age Greenwich Village folk scene almost like a neo-reminiscent foreshadowing of the Brookline High School "Benchie" beat scene circa 2001-2005.
"If they were any good or had enough friends, they would be surrounded by small circles of listeners, and when someone learned a new song they would bring it down to the park and other people would pick it up." (x)
Impressive original songs and high-caliber audio recordings include contributions by Oscar Isaac (accomplished Travis Picker, not Poe Dameron), the dude from Mumford and Sons, dreamy heartthrob Justin Timberlake, and T Bone Burnett, who played on Bobby D's Rolling Thunder tour and the paragon Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night.
The printed screenplay includes elegant supplemental cinematography stills and far less feline content than the actual film. Song lyrics use a different font closer to Calibri or perhaps a taller, lankier Tahoma. The Co. Bros. use the word "beat" frequently, which is far more valuable in digesting its screenplay form because when you actually stop and think about it, it's like the philosophy of the period, maaan...
"After a beat gazing at the stage, he waxes philosophical." (144)
The screenplay does not allude to the wrong cat, "the object of his pursuit." (70) I was under the impression that the animal that Llewyn hits with the car was actually a cat or ghost-cat, but rather is described as "A badger- or ferret-sized creature is hauling itself hauntingly towards the woods that line the highway." (129)
The written screenplay directly utilizes coats and jackets to establish class status and sadly, Johnny Five was not my favorite talking robot. :-(
The soul-stirring déjà vu scene-scene to close the weak, long journey is very intentional "pre-lap," "spotlit as at the beginning of the movie." (152) Is the protagonist literally saying, "Au revoir" after deja-vu also waxing philosophical?? [ponder emoji]
Unique words and phrases in mostly chronological order:
"broadly smiling" (10)
"clatter offscreen" (10
"battered guitar" (10)
"thin, angular Man" (10)
"suit a size too big" (10)
*"studies Llewyn for a beat" (10, ironic because it could mean measure of time or folk verbiage)*
"socked him in the mouth" (11, 153) [déjà vu]
"slush of the alleyway" (11, 153) [déjà vu]
"curls into a defensive ball and bellows from protective forearms" (12, 156) [déjà vu]
"purring with a loud rhythmic grumble" (12)
"padding around the room" (12)
"undies" (12)
"gazing stupidly" (12)
"cranes to peer down" (13)
"loudly clears phlegm" (13)
"still undied" (13)"
"doesn't see what he is after" (13)
"mouth agape" (14)
"scribbling" (14)
"corrals it" (15)
"pointlessly tries" (16)
"sloppy entries" (16)
"winter wear all heavier than" (16)
"body jiggling with the motion of the car" (17)
"cat-hugging" (20)
"wifebeater" (20)
"Small, seedy" (22)
"We see the effort in his body" (22)
"roused from the file" (24)
"buzz cut shows off a high forehead" (27)
"At length, sotto voce" (32, meaning quiet voice...)
"Healthy applause" (33)
"swivels at the mike" (36)
"spooning cereal" (37)
"pushing his few effects into a bag" (38)
"angles the exhale towards the window" (39)
"pat-pat-pats away" (40)
"the alley mouth" (40)
"body joggling with the motion of the train" (48)
"He looks idly around." (52)
"Working-class kitchen." (52)
"muted click of a door latch" (55)
"distinguished, Waspy gentleman in tweeds" (55)
"A nice but not especially large studio" (55)
"ranged around a microphone" (55)
"tail of the laugh" (56)
"blond wood" (56)
"coffee percolator" (59)
"replies absently while typing" (61)
"momentary hope" (62)
"joyously vocalizing to the heavens" (63)
"each laborious footfall" (65)
"bounces experimentally" (65)
"gropes" (69...)
"hastily crouch-walking" (70)
"glances furtively around" (70)
"All the acrimony is spent. The exchange is matter-of-fact." (72)
"incongruously sitting" (74)
"flummoxed" (74, I LOVE using this word in handwritten letters...)
"he shrugs away his thought whatever it was" (76)
"fist rapping" (77)
"strange-looking two-year-old, half Asian, half something else" (79)
"runs a couple licks" (81)
"Receptive chuckles" (81)
"genuinely taken with the performance" (81)
"The spell is broken." (81)
"more and more testy" (82)
"Walla of protestation" (83)
"jiggling body emphasizing her point" (83)
"all-American young man, good-looking, although something not quite right about his face" (85)
"animal fetish tie pin" (85)
"body now joggles with the motion of the car" (85)
"wake-snarfling noises" (85)
"fully awake and has a lot to say" (89)
"herky-jerking away" (90, 98)
"unperches" (94)
"reprises the chorus with gusto" (95)
"unenlisted, drives with no change of expression" (95)
"woken up and then some" (96)
"an assaultive drone" (96)
"receding jazzman" (98)
"A faint smile curls Johnny Five's lip" (99)
"Long beat" (100)
"His mouth hangs open as he watches the world go by, haunted." (100)
"The foul weather, or the late hour, makes for not much clientele." (101)
"hoists himself with a grunt" (103)
"quizzical expression" (103)
"empty throw of restaurant" (103)
"Johnny Five's mirth mellows into a smile" (103)
"Mindful of privacy" (106)
"sound of slithering fabric ending with a flop-thump that echoes on the tile" (106)
"glowing Oasis which sits on a highway overpass" (107)
"whining static hisses" (107)
"sharp thwack-thwack" (108)
"The two torsos are raked by a twirl of white light" (109)
"confusion of body parts" (110)
"gumball light" (110)
"toppy view" (112)
"liquid squish" (112)
"Walla and dish-clatter bang in at the cut." (114)
"big institutional clock" (118)
"growing sharper" (118)
"He looks for a wordless beat." (118)
"nice coat" (120)
"faintest smile fades" (122)
"A good beat" (124)
"negotiating the ditch" (126)
"His eyes hold on the ghost of the city for a brief beat, then shift forward." (128)
"No traffic, peaceful, dark, falling snow." (128)
"haggardness, the most extreme yet" (129)
"Cottage-cheese ceiling" (130, WTF?)
"once-grand beaux-art institution gone to seed" (130)
"suddenly less bored" (131)
"rectilinear portico" (132, FML...)
"genuine laugh" (139)
"geezer" (140)
"After a beat gazing at the stage, he waxes philosophical." (144)
"gaunt face and frame" (145)
"uncomprehending titters" (145)
"under impetus" (146)
"A cat has trotted in." (149, BOOOOOOOOO...)
"Backlit in the smoky spotlight a young man with a dutch-boy cap and a guitar and a harmonica on a rack is just sitting onstage." (153, #bobdylan, hashtagfolkmusic)
The written screenplay of Inside Llewyn Davis is undeniably of high quality by successful seasoned veterans who coin their profitable art as "movie," I'm just morbidly afraid of felines (not the other raunchy slang word) and could really, really use someone caring enough to take a gamble and empathetically help me to erase all my stupid, foolish fears in life.
Kthxbyyy [sunglasses emoji]
"If they were any good or had enough friends, they would be surrounded by small circles of listeners, and when someone learned a new song they would bring it down to the park and other people would pick it up." (x)
Impressive original songs and high-caliber audio recordings include contributions by Oscar Isaac (accomplished Travis Picker, not Poe Dameron), the dude from Mumford and Sons, dreamy heartthrob Justin Timberlake, and T Bone Burnett, who played on Bobby D's Rolling Thunder tour and the paragon Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night.
The printed screenplay includes elegant supplemental cinematography stills and far less feline content than the actual film. Song lyrics use a different font closer to Calibri or perhaps a taller, lankier Tahoma. The Co. Bros. use the word "beat" frequently, which is far more valuable in digesting its screenplay form because when you actually stop and think about it, it's like the philosophy of the period, maaan...
"After a beat gazing at the stage, he waxes philosophical." (144)
The screenplay does not allude to the wrong cat, "the object of his pursuit." (70) I was under the impression that the animal that Llewyn hits with the car was actually a cat or ghost-cat, but rather is described as "A badger- or ferret-sized creature is hauling itself hauntingly towards the woods that line the highway." (129)
The written screenplay directly utilizes coats and jackets to establish class status and sadly, Johnny Five was not my favorite talking robot. :-(
The soul-stirring déjà vu scene-scene to close the weak, long journey is very intentional "pre-lap," "spotlit as at the beginning of the movie." (152) Is the protagonist literally saying, "Au revoir" after deja-vu also waxing philosophical?? [ponder emoji]
Unique words and phrases in mostly chronological order:
"broadly smiling" (10)
"clatter offscreen" (10
"battered guitar" (10)
"thin, angular Man" (10)
"suit a size too big" (10)
*"studies Llewyn for a beat" (10, ironic because it could mean measure of time or folk verbiage)*
"socked him in the mouth" (11, 153) [déjà vu]
"slush of the alleyway" (11, 153) [déjà vu]
"curls into a defensive ball and bellows from protective forearms" (12, 156) [déjà vu]
"purring with a loud rhythmic grumble" (12)
"padding around the room" (12)
"undies" (12)
"gazing stupidly" (12)
"cranes to peer down" (13)
"loudly clears phlegm" (13)
"still undied" (13)"
"doesn't see what he is after" (13)
"mouth agape" (14)
"scribbling" (14)
"corrals it" (15)
"pointlessly tries" (16)
"sloppy entries" (16)
"winter wear all heavier than" (16)
"body jiggling with the motion of the car" (17)
"cat-hugging" (20)
"wifebeater" (20)
"Small, seedy" (22)
"We see the effort in his body" (22)
"roused from the file" (24)
"buzz cut shows off a high forehead" (27)
"At length, sotto voce" (32, meaning quiet voice...)
"Healthy applause" (33)
"swivels at the mike" (36)
"spooning cereal" (37)
"pushing his few effects into a bag" (38)
"angles the exhale towards the window" (39)
"pat-pat-pats away" (40)
"the alley mouth" (40)
"body joggling with the motion of the train" (48)
"He looks idly around." (52)
"Working-class kitchen." (52)
"muted click of a door latch" (55)
"distinguished, Waspy gentleman in tweeds" (55)
"A nice but not especially large studio" (55)
"ranged around a microphone" (55)
"tail of the laugh" (56)
"blond wood" (56)
"coffee percolator" (59)
"replies absently while typing" (61)
"momentary hope" (62)
"joyously vocalizing to the heavens" (63)
"each laborious footfall" (65)
"bounces experimentally" (65)
"gropes" (69...)
"hastily crouch-walking" (70)
"glances furtively around" (70)
"All the acrimony is spent. The exchange is matter-of-fact." (72)
"incongruously sitting" (74)
"flummoxed" (74, I LOVE using this word in handwritten letters...)
"he shrugs away his thought whatever it was" (76)
"fist rapping" (77)
"strange-looking two-year-old, half Asian, half something else" (79)
"runs a couple licks" (81)
"Receptive chuckles" (81)
"genuinely taken with the performance" (81)
"The spell is broken." (81)
"more and more testy" (82)
"Walla of protestation" (83)
"jiggling body emphasizing her point" (83)
"all-American young man, good-looking, although something not quite right about his face" (85)
"animal fetish tie pin" (85)
"body now joggles with the motion of the car" (85)
"wake-snarfling noises" (85)
"fully awake and has a lot to say" (89)
"herky-jerking away" (90, 98)
"unperches" (94)
"reprises the chorus with gusto" (95)
"unenlisted, drives with no change of expression" (95)
"woken up and then some" (96)
"an assaultive drone" (96)
"receding jazzman" (98)
"A faint smile curls Johnny Five's lip" (99)
"Long beat" (100)
"His mouth hangs open as he watches the world go by, haunted." (100)
"The foul weather, or the late hour, makes for not much clientele." (101)
"hoists himself with a grunt" (103)
"quizzical expression" (103)
"empty throw of restaurant" (103)
"Johnny Five's mirth mellows into a smile" (103)
"Mindful of privacy" (106)
"sound of slithering fabric ending with a flop-thump that echoes on the tile" (106)
"glowing Oasis which sits on a highway overpass" (107)
"whining static hisses" (107)
"sharp thwack-thwack" (108)
"The two torsos are raked by a twirl of white light" (109)
"confusion of body parts" (110)
"gumball light" (110)
"toppy view" (112)
"liquid squish" (112)
"Walla and dish-clatter bang in at the cut." (114)
"big institutional clock" (118)
"growing sharper" (118)
"He looks for a wordless beat." (118)
"nice coat" (120)
"faintest smile fades" (122)
"A good beat" (124)
"negotiating the ditch" (126)
"His eyes hold on the ghost of the city for a brief beat, then shift forward." (128)
"No traffic, peaceful, dark, falling snow." (128)
"haggardness, the most extreme yet" (129)
"Cottage-cheese ceiling" (130, WTF?)
"once-grand beaux-art institution gone to seed" (130)
"suddenly less bored" (131)
"rectilinear portico" (132, FML...)
"genuine laugh" (139)
"geezer" (140)
"After a beat gazing at the stage, he waxes philosophical." (144)
"gaunt face and frame" (145)
"uncomprehending titters" (145)
"under impetus" (146)
"A cat has trotted in." (149, BOOOOOOOOO...)
"Backlit in the smoky spotlight a young man with a dutch-boy cap and a guitar and a harmonica on a rack is just sitting onstage." (153, #bobdylan, hashtagfolkmusic)
The written screenplay of Inside Llewyn Davis is undeniably of high quality by successful seasoned veterans who coin their profitable art as "movie," I'm just morbidly afraid of felines (not the other raunchy slang word) and could really, really use someone caring enough to take a gamble and empathetically help me to erase all my stupid, foolish fears in life.
Kthxbyyy [sunglasses emoji]
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2021
1. Llewyn is the cat
2. This a way
3. Do I need my guitar?
4. Parlor game
5. George Washington Bridge
6. Poor Queen Jane
7. The bonny shoals
8. You wanna play the Gaslight
2. This a way
3. Do I need my guitar?
4. Parlor game
5. George Washington Bridge
6. Poor Queen Jane
7. The bonny shoals
8. You wanna play the Gaslight
November 18, 2022
Богатство с невероятно въведение от Илайджа Уолд и интервю с Ти Боун Бърнет за финал.
January 5, 2021
nails the never-ending apocalyptic mood of 2020 -- what it feels like to grow increasingly cynical while trapped in limbo, broke-ass poor, where literally nothing goes your way, surrounded by folks who come off as dumbasses and assholes but are more likely just as isolated and lonely as you, and finally, as you find just enough hope to keep pressing on in the face of hopelessness, like Queen Jane eyeing the guillotine, no one seems to notice the Mumford-ization of everything, even you, but at least there’s some good jokes to make up for it
August 25, 2022
I liked it up until the midpoint. Afterwards, everything was rather confusing. There were a few rather important, but unanswered questions. I haven't watched the film yet, so it is possible my perception changes. The version I read was not formatted properly and was a bit confusing to read at parts.
April 18, 2020
Beste film ooit gemaakt met geweldige muziek 🙌🏻
August 11, 2016
I haven't read a screenplay...any play...for some time. I have not seen the movie, so this was an interesting exercise. After reading the screenplay I'm not sure I still want to watch the film. The introduction by Elijah Wald set up the time and the mood in a most excellent way. The story was fairly depressing. Llewyn was pretty much "a dick" by his own estimation. And hope for redemption of this character never quite arrived.
March 7, 2014
I really loved the movie and this is just the original screen place which is really nice and so short - can read it quicker than it takes to watch the film.
Only problem is the film is quite cinematographic and the book can't capture that
Only problem is the film is quite cinematographic and the book can't capture that
May 5, 2014
Seen the film, read the screen-play, listened to Dave van Ronk, ordered the soundtrack cd. 'Sall good. And the Faber edition has two fine interviews to enhance your viewing pleasure.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews