Coen Brothers’ Longtime Collaborator J. Todd Anderson Dies at 67

The veteran storyboard artist died after a battle with cancer.

J. Todd Anderson

Institute of American Indian Arts

J. Todd Anderson, a frequent collaborator of Joel and Ethan Coen who storyboarded films such as Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, and Fargo, has died at 67 after a battle with cancer, according to Variety. George Willeman, who co-hosted the Filmically Perfect podcast with Anderson, confirmed his death in a Facebook post on Saturday. “As you may have heard, my erstwhile pod-partner, J. Todd Anderson, passed away October 2nd in California,” Willeman wrote. “We had gotten together just a few months back, making plans to bring the show back as we still have/had lots of movies to talk about. While that cannot happen now, we hope to keep the website alive so that our old episodes can still be enjoyed.” The storyboard artist kicked off his career in the late 1980s with Raising Arizona, the Coens’ second feature film. Anderson went on to storyboard all of the brothers’ subsequent films, including their solo endeavors such as Ethan’s Drive Away Dolls and Joel’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. Aside from his work with the Coens, Anderson also storyboarded films such as 1989’s Twister and 2016’s The Nice Guys. He was also nominated for three Art Directors Guild awards for his work on The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and Hail, Caesar!

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