John Goodman first encountered Joel and Ethan Coen when he auditioned for their 1987 film Raising Arizona. Clearly, the pair saw something unique in Goodman, because they went on to cast him in six of their films, both as a wicked personality and a softer one. Goodman saw something authentic and important in the Coens, too.
In a Collider interview, John Goodman says that the Coen brothers’ vision is “really great, and they know how to achieve it.” In various interviews, including this one, Goodman emphasizes that he doesn’t even need to read a Coen brother's script to accept one of their roles. In another conversation, with Rolling Stone, Goodman describes the Coen brothers' characters as “literary” and that he always “wants to know what happens to them.” When casting for their movies, it is clear that the Coens have a knack for seeing when an actor has lots of flexibility, even if they have been type cast into a specific personality.
While John Goodman praises the Coen brothers openly, Joel and Ethan haven’t said much about why Goodman is so fitting for their movies. This may just be because the pair is very open about not being interested in interviews, as mentioned in a Helytimes article, and Goodman’s roles in the Coen brothers' movies seem to speak for themselves. He is a versatile actor, starring in everything from TV’s Roseanne to Disney’s Emperor's New Groove all while maintaining his own unique presence, and so it is no mystery why the Coens usually cast him. Here is every John Goodman role in a Coen brother movie, ranked.
6 Newsreel Announcer - The Hudsucker Proxy
John Goodman has a very brief part in the 1994 movie The Hudsucker Proxy. A business school graduate named Norville Barnes, played by Tim Robbins, is unexpectedly thrust into the position of president for Hudsucker Industries. John Goodman fleetingly appears as a Newsreel announcer who reports on the events around the company and as usual, delivers every line with a punch despite it being a small role.
5 Roland Turner (Inside Llewyn Davis)
This 2013 Coen brothers movie Inside Llewyn Davis follows the career of an aspiring folk singer, Llewyn Davis, played by Oscar Issac, who chases fame while attempting to maintain a stable personal life. At one point, Davis heads out to Chicago to try his luck there. He rides with two other musicians: Johnny Five, played by Garrett Hedlund, and jazz musician Roland Turner, played by John Goodman.
Goodman depicts Roland as an egotistic, self-absorbed man who speaks in long-winded monologues. This is one of Goodman’s most underrated performances for the way Roland rambles and keeps a careless demeanor, all while harnessing a kind of impenetrable wisdom. When the trio stops at a restaurant, Roland dies of a drug overdose, making Davis’ trip across the country more complicated.
4 Gale Snoats (Raising Arizona)
The 1987 film Raising Arizona tells the story of an ex-convict named “Hi,” played by Nicolas Cage, who proposes to a police officer, Edwina, played by Holly Hunter. After the couple abducts a baby because they cannot have one themselves, they are visited by Hi’s ex-cellmates, Gale and Evelle. Gale is played perfectly by John Goodman, mastering what the actor does so well for the Coens (a combination of intimidation and affable good-natured humor) with more sweetness than usual. The two escaped convicts arrive unannounced and Gale explains that they tunneled out when the “institution had nothing left to offer [them].” Goodman plays the redneck convict hilariously and excels in every scene, especially when Gale and Evelle lose Hi and Edwina’s baby.
3 Daniel Teague - O Brother Where Art Thou?
In the 2000 film O Brother Where Art Thou?, John Goodman plays a one-eyed Klu Klux Klan member who poses as a bible salesman. The film is based on the plot of Homer’s Odyssey and Goodman’s character, Daniel “Big Dan” Teague, which is similar to the Odyssey’s cyclops, Polyphemus. Goodman plays an initially charming and humorous Big Dan who, after luring his victims with the salesman facade, will attempt to mug whoever falls into his trap. Goodman excels in the fight scene between him and the characters of George Clooney and Tim Blake Nelson, and unleashes his rage at just the right moments.
2 Karl Munt (Barton Fink)
Set in the 1940s, Barton Fink follows the titular New York City playwright, enters a contract to write movie scripts in LA. Fink, played by John Turturro, holes up in a run-down motel to begin his work only to be interrupted by a man in the neighboring room, Charlie Meadows. Meadows is depicted by John Goodman as an overly friendly and talkative man. Shortly after spending time with Meadows, Fink is told by two police officers that Charlie Meadows is actually Karl Munt, the serial killer. Similar to his roles in other Coen films, John Goodman plays an excellent and manipulative criminal. According to a Looper article by Mikeal Trench, Goodman’s character is essential for the film “in that his inclusion shows just how far away Fink truly is from the world he aims to depict." Goodman is downright apocalyptic and terrifying here.
1 Walter Sobchak - The Big Labowski
Walter Sobchak is by far the most popular and arguably the best John Goodman role in a Coen movie, although the actor himself doesn’t think so. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Goodman admits that while he loves The Big Lebowski, his favorite performance of his own is in Barton Fink. What is so perfect about Walter Sobchak, a Vietnam War veteran with an explosive personality, is that he is the complete opposite of his non-reactive, laid-back friend, “the dude," and their complacent, passive friend Donnie. If not for Walter, the dude (Jeffery Lebowski, played by Jeff Bridges), would not get so wrapped up in this case of mistaken identity. Goodman is perfect here, and his hilariously one-sided arguments with Donnie (a wonderful Steve Buscemi) is a highlight of the film.
John Goodman has been an essential component of the Coen brothers' films since 1987. Joel and Ethan Coen are currently not working on any new projects together, and their last effort as a pair was 2018's The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, so it's uncertain of Goodman will ever work with the two of them together again.