# Ethan Coen - Why is he credited as director in No Country for Old Men

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethan-coen-why-is-he-credited-as-director-in-no-country-for-old-men/434930>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 25, 2008, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethan-coen-why-is-he-credited-as-director-in-no-country-for-old-men/434930 "2008-01-25T06:49:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethan-coen-why-is-he-credited-as-director-in-no-country-for-old-men/434930/1 "2008-01-25T06:49:59Z")

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He was never credited before for any of the Coen Brothers movies. Did something change about the way they work?Previous movies always had Ethan credited with producing and Joel credited with directing even though they both kind of did both. So what’s up with the change?

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethan-coen-why-is-he-credited-as-director-in-no-country-for-old-men/434930/2 "2008-01-25T06:57:40Z")

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Maybe cause he directed it? Just a guess…

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**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2008, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethan-coen-why-is-he-credited-as-director-in-no-country-for-old-men/434930/3 "2008-01-25T07:08:45Z")

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The Directors Guild of America has a rule that two people cannot share a “directed by” credit on a single film… except when they can. Apparently the brothers are now recognized as a bona fide directing team. Why it took so long, I don’t know.

> **[Why not quit the Directors Guild?](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2005/04/why-not-quit-the-directors-guild.html)**
>
> The comic-book-inspired Sin City is No. 1 at the box office right now. Last year, its director Robert Rodriguez quit the Directors Guild of America in...