20 Things You Didn't Know About A Serious Man
13. A Boy, A Blunt And The Unlikely Makings Of A Film
The whole film owes its existence to young Danny Gopnik's Bar Mitzvah, or at least the idea of it. The film was already envisioned as a short film by the Coens that was focused on the rite of passage and the Gopnik family's youngest being stoned on his big day. The directing duo claimed that they based Rabbi Marshak on a spiritual leader from their youth who was just as enigmatic and wizened as his onscreen counterpart.
It is easy to see how the rest of the film's elements emerged from this idea due to the Coens' childhood experiences, as well as the sheer hilarity/absurdity of a stoned teen meeting an aloof elder. Furthermore, this (in addition to the children in the film named after the directors' childhood friends) cements the film as one of the more personal and relatable entries in the Coens' filmography.