Sari (Wagner) Lennick ’05 is starring in Ethan and Joel Coen’s new movie, A Serious Man, alongside Adam Arkin, Richard Kind, and Michael Stuhlbarg. The film premiered this month to rave reviews. A black comedy set in the Midwest in 1967, A Serious Man tells the story of Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg), a professor whose life unravels when his wife (Lennick) prepares to leave him because she has fallen in love with one of his colleagues. In addition, his inept brother (Kind) won't move out of the house, his son has a discipline problem, and his daughter is stealing money from him.

A year after graduating from Drama, Lennick and her husband moved to Minneapolis. She explains how the opportunity came about: “In February 2007, I was at the Guthrie Theater seeing a show with Jonathan Howle, Playwriting ’03, and we ran into my agent.” Lennick auditioned that March, and in June was called back and auditioned for the Coens. She got a call in August telling her that she got the part.

A Serious Man opened nationally last week.