A Serious Man Car to be Auctioned for Charity

Ebay bidders, start your computers. Focus Features and Variety––The Children’s Charity of Southern California have teamed up to auction off the 1966 Dodge Coronet used in A Serious Man. The auction kicks off on Monday, February 22, 2010 and ends Thursday, March 4, 2010––so bid early and bid often. To get in on the action, go to www.eBay.com/varietyskids. Or if you happen to be in Minnesota, you can stop by the Mall of America where the lovely car will be on display during the auction.

This mean blue machine is the car owned and driven by Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) in the Coen Brothers’ Academy Award-nominated comedy A Serious Man. (A Serious Man is up for Best Picture and Original Screenplay.) Weeks before production started on the film, the Coens and their production team scoured antique car shops to find the perfect car for their lead character, a Jewish physics professor living in the suburbs of Minneapolis in 1967. Then It appeared––a 1966 Dodge Coronet, a midsized car that Chrysler introduced in the ‘50s and then again in the mid-‘60s. To get a sense of the scrutiny the production team went through with vintage autos, click here and then go to “Recreating 1967 - Part 4.”

While there’ll be a final cost on the car, the good karma will be priceless in this auction. “We’re delighted that a serious collector will have the opportunity to buy one of the film’s classic cars and that children in need will benefit from the excitement of the Oscars and the online auction,” Focus Features CEO James Schamus commented. Proceeds will benefit Variety––The Children’s Charity of Southern California, which helps “inspire hope, enrich lives and build a better future for the children in need in Southern California.” This is not the first time that Focus has worked with Variety––The Children’s Charity of Southern California. In previous years, Focus has contributed for auction the iconic shirts worn by the stars (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) of Brokeback Mountain, the famed green dress worn by Keira Knightley in Atonement; and the suit worn by Sean Penn in Milk.