After transporting us back to New York City in the 1960s with Inside Llewyn Davis, it looks as though The Coen Brothers are now in the process of setting up another period piece for their next project. This particular movie will be set in Hollywood in the ’50s and centers on a man named Eddie Mannix who is a so-called “fixer”, hired to protect the image of the big studio stars of the day. That’s not all The Coens have on their plate, however; it appears that the duo will also be collaborating with Steven Spielberg on the untitled Cold War thriller that he and Tom Hanks recently signed up for. If that’s not an exciting prospect, I don’t know what is. Hit the jump for more details.

According to Deadline, The Coen Brothers will write and direct Hail Caesar as their next project, a “comical yarn” set in Hollywood circa 1950. The main character is a private investigator who is hired to dig up dirt on movie stars and then suppress it in the media via payoffs and strong arm tactics. He may or may not be loosely based on the real-life Eddie Mannix, who was a VP and general manager at MGM, and also a suspect in the death of George Reeves after Reeves had an affair with his wife.

As for the Spielberg project, Variety reports that The Coen Brothers will write the script for the ’60s spy thriller. Tom Hanks is on board to play James Donovan, an American attorney who was brought in by the CIA during the Cold War to negotiate the release of pilot of a spy plane that was shot down over Russia. The Coens have previously written a few scripts for other directors (Crimewave, Gambit, Angelina Jolie’s upcoming film Unbroken) but this would be a pretty big deal, assuming it actually gets made. Are you looking forward to either of these projects?