“Oh, fuck, she’s good,” was filmmaker Ethan Coen’s first thought when he saw Aubrey Plaza in the 2022 thriller Emily the Criminal . His collaborator and wife, Tricia Cooke, with whom he wrote 2024’s Drive-Away Dolls , shared the sentiment. “[We thought,] ‘We’ll order one of that,’” Coen tells Vogue over the phone.

When Coen and Cooke then made their second film together, this summer’s dark comedy Honey Don’t! , they cast Margaret Qualley as Honey O’Donahue, a tough, small-town gumshoe. Plaza joined the roster as police officer MG Falcone, Honey’s surly love interest.

“I was like, oh my God, this is my favorite experience I’ve had on set, ever,” Plaza, a lifelong Coen Brothers fan, tells Vogue in a separate phone call. “I just totally fell in love with Ethan and working with him

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