Inside Llewyn Davis: The Trouble With Cats

For my regular job I interviewed some of the stars of the terrific new Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis. based very loosely on some of the stories Dave Van Ronk tells of the folk revival scene in Greenwich Village in The Mayor of MacDougall Street.

                                                                      

   That's when I learned Oscar Isaac has nothing nice to say about some of his co-stars: the five orange cats he had to work with. You see, five years ago he was bitten by an alley cat he was trying to pet:

Oscar

The next day I woke up with a red line going up my arm. I had to go to the hospital for two days. It got into my lymphatic system. And then cut to five years later, I show up at the Coen Brothers set and they have five cats that they're going to tie to me at any given moment and have me run into the subway. So that was definitely a fear that I had to overcome. Cats are very hard to train and I don't recommend making movies with them.

-They weren't literally tied to you were they?

-They were literally tied to me.

With time running out I asked some of the actors and T Bone Burnett to tell me about the folk music they were listening to for the movie.

Oscar Isaac

I was listening to a lot of folk music--Dave Van Ronk above all. His repertoire. Everything of his and also I really fell in love with Karen Dalton

T Bone Burnett ( in a voice right off of Proof Through the Night)

I would say check out Jean Ritchie. She's really deep and important, I'll give you that one for now and we'll go to more later.

Stark Sands ( on left) who played a Tom Paxton inspired character

To get ready for the movie I listened to Dave Van Ronk. I listened to Bob Dylan which was a little after the fact but I wanted to know what we were preceding. I listened to the Kingston Trio. I listened to Peter Paul and Mary because my character is a little more polished and buttoned up than Llewyn.