J. Todd Anderson, ‘The Nice Guys’ Storyboard Artist and Longtime Coen Brothers Collaborator, Dies at 67 — SkimNews
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- J. Todd Anderson, the storyboard artist who collaborated with the Coen Brothers across their entire filmography, died October 2 in California at 67 after a battle with cancer.
- Anderson storyboarded the Coen Brothers' films including 'Fargo,' 'The Big Lebowski,' 'Miller's Crossing,' 'True Grit,' 'The Ladykillers,' 'Hail, Caesar!,' and 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,' plus their recent solo projects 'Drive-Away Dolls,' 'Honey Don't,' and 'The Tragedy of Macbeth.'
- Outside the Coens, Anderson worked on 'Twister' (1989), 'The Addams Family' (1991), 'Whip It' (2009), 'The Nice Guys' (2016), and 'The Predator' (2018), and received three Art Directors Guild nominations.
- Anderson directed two features — 'The Naked Man' (1999) and 'My Mummy' (2008) — published a storyboard book for 'The Big Lebowski,' and wrote the words and music for the pop musical 'Nativity.'
- Born in Springfield, Ohio, Anderson attended Wright State University, whose Tom Hanks Center for Motion Pictures paid tribute and noted he 'generously shared his stories and knowledge with emerging filmmakers whenever they asked.'
- George Willeman, Anderson's co-host on the 'Filmically Perfect' podcast, confirmed the death in an Oct. 3 Facebook post; Anderson's sister Kimberly Patterson separately confirmed it to nonprofit FilmDayton.
Why it matters: Anderson spent roughly 35 years as the Coen Brothers' storyboard artist, shaping the visual planning of every film from 'Raising Arizona' through their recent solo projects, including Joel Coen's 'The Tragedy of Macbeth' and Ethan Coen's 'Honey Don't.' His death ends an unbroken collaboration with one of American cinema's most distinctive filmmaking duos, and removes a mentor cited by Wright State University's Tom Hanks Center for Motion Pictures for guiding emerging filmmakers.
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