C.C. Calhoun makes a brief appearance in Hail, Caesar! (2016), a musical comedy set in the 1950s that depicts the behind-the-scenes of a Hollywood movie star handler and his daily troubles as he tries to keep the Capitol Pictures Hollywood facade functioning smoothly. C.C. Calhoun’s character is a reclusive, chain-smoking film editor, she is unattractive in comparison to the women on the films she edits, hence her placement behind the camera. C.C. Calhoun is played by Frances McDormand, who is married to one of the film’s writers and directors, Joel Coen. Frances McDormand is a staple in many of the Coen brother’s movies and is known for her headstrong roles. McDormand’s performance as C.C. Calhoun lends itself to what Earnest Mathijs calls “referential acting” in his article written for Screen titled “Referential acting and the ensemble cast.” Mathijs proposes that: “Referential acting involves the self-conscious design of a performance on the basis of a previous one, often by the same actors, but also based on archetypes, exemplary models or cliched stereotypes…” (91). Not only does C.C. Calhoun serve a purpose in a large ensemble cast, but she also leans into the cliche stereotype of eccentric, chain-smoking recluse working in the dark and rushing to meet deadlines. Moreover, she integrates herself into Eddie Mannix’s array of bizarre daily struggles he must “fix” when her scarf is pulled into the tape reel and begins to choke her to death. The repetition of McDormand in both fully-fledged roles and cameos allows the audiences who are devoted to the Coen brother’s films to form a sense of cult cinema, as Mathijs suggests comes from such “referential acting.” Luckily, C.C Calhoun does not choke to death and is able to help advance the plot by providing raw footage to Eddie Mannix to help him narrow down what happened to Baird Whitlock.
Works Cited
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
Mathijs, Ernest. Referential acting and the ensemble cast, Screen, Volume 52, Issue 1, Spring 2011, Pages 89–96, https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hjq063
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