Why so Serious?

With Burn after Reading mere weeks away (Sept. 12, in fact), the brothers Coen cast their next flick, A Serious Man, with relative unknown Michael Stuhlbarg in the title role and Spin City's Richard Kind along for the ride as a deadbeat brother. As noted here, Serious involves "a Jewish college professor in the Midwest during the 1960s [who] seeks to solve his existential issues from men of God." Sounds like serious business.