The Coens' quirkiest characters

Jennifer Jason Leigh as Amy Archer, “The Hudsucker Proxy”

Occasionally, a Coen character’s strangeness comes more from the performance than the script. Amy may come off as a standard embittered-then-gradually-softened reporter, but with Leigh’s rat-a-tat, staccato line readings and manic screwball energy, she starts to resemble the android cousin of a 1930s Hollywood heroine. We mean that as a compliment.