50 Fun Facts About No Country for Old Men

Who directed No Country for Old Men?

They also wrote, produced and edited it, the editing under their usual alias Roderick Jaynes.

Whose 2005 novel is the film based on?

It was the second McCarthy adaptation after All the Pretty Horses; he chuckled at a screening, which Ethan took as approval.

Who plays the hitman Anton Chigurh?

Mark Strong was on standby when Bardem's schedule looked like a problem.

In which year is the film set?

The West Texas desert of Terrell County is the setting; much of it was shot in New Mexico.

How much cash is in the briefcase Llewelyn Moss finds?

He is hunting pronghorn when he stumbles on the dead men from a drug deal gone wrong.

What is Moss hunting when he finds the money?

His guilt about the dying man begging for water sends him back that night, which is how the cartel spots him.

What unusual weapon does Chigurh use to kill a driver and blow out door locks?

It is a livestock-slaughter tool; the sound was actually made with a pneumatic nail gun.

How does the gas station owner survive his encounter with Chigurh?

The camera creeps in so slowly during the scene that viewers do not notice it moving.

How does Chigurh track Moss to the motel in Del Rio?

Moss hides the case in the air duct and rents the adjoining room to reach it.

In which border town does the Moss-Chigurh gunfight spill into the streets?

Both are badly wounded and a truck driver is killed; Moss then crosses into Mexico.

Where does Moss hide the briefcase after fleeing to Mexico?

Carson Wells finds it but leaves it, and dies before he can use the knowledge.

Who plays the bounty hunter Carson Wells?

Chigurh shoots him as the phone rings, then answers it to threaten Moss.

Who accidentally reveals Moss's El Paso location to the Mexicans following them?

Bell arrives to find Moss already dead, and Carla Jean weeps when he removes his hat.

How does Carla Jean respond when Chigurh offers her a coin toss?

She tells him only he is responsible for her fate; in the novel she does call it.

What happens to Chigurh as he drives away from Carla Jean's house?

He buys a boy's shirt for a sling and limps off, still free.

In the second dream Bell tells his wife about, what is his father doing?

The first dream is about losing money his father gave him; then he wakes up and the film ends.

Which poet's line gives the film and novel their title?

It is the opening of "Sailing to Byzantium".

Which actor turned down the role of Llewelyn Moss to spend time with his newborn daughter?

Garret Dillahunt auditioned five times and was given the deputy Wendell instead.

Which two directors helped Josh Brolin shoot his audition tape while making Grindhouse?

Brolin was not the Coens' first choice; his agent eventually got him a meeting.

Which producer bought the rights to the novel and brought it to the Coens?

The brothers had been trying to adapt James Dickey's To the White Sea at the time.

How did Ethan Coen describe the brothers' method for adapting the novel?

They cut a teenage runaway and much of Bell's backstory, but called it compression, not invention.

What was the film's budget?

At least half was spent in New Mexico, where Las Vegas doubled for Eagle Pass and Del Rio.

Which film shooting nearby in Marfa cost the Coens a day of filming with its smoke?

The two Miramax-Paramount films went on to face each other at the Oscars.

Who was the cinematographer, on his ninth collaboration with the Coens?

He was nominated for the Oscar but lost, one of the film's four losses out of eight nominations.

Roughly how many minutes of music does the film contain?

Carter Burwell used Buddhist singing bowls, and several of those minutes are in the end credits.

What was used to create the sound of Chigurh's bolt gun?

Sound editor Skip Lievsay called the film's near-silence "quite a remarkable experiment".

How many Academy Awards did the film win, from eight nominations?

Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

What national milestone did the Best Supporting Actor win for Chigurh represent?

He thanked the Coens for putting "one of the most horrible hair cuts in history" on his head.

What distinction did the film hold among Westerns at the Academy Awards as of 2025?

The others to win Best Picture were Cimarron, Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven.

At which festival did the film premiere in May 2007?

It screened in competition; the Coens had won the Palme d'Or there for Barton Fink in 1991.

How much did the film gross worldwide?

Miramax used a slow rollout that gained momentum with each award.

Where was Chigurh ranked on Empire's list of the 100 greatest movie characters?

A group of psychologists also named him the most realistic film psychopath in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.

What are Chigurh's main firearms?

The bolt gun is mostly for locks; Bardem called him a force of nature who comes from nowhere.

Which Scottish actress plays the Texan Carla Jean Moss?

The Trainspotting star said the film's Carla Jean has a quiet acceptance the book's version lacks.

Which character do Josh Brolin and Garret Dillahunt's roles connect to as deputy?

Tommy Lee Jones's Bell is the sheriff of Terrell County; Dillahunt plays his deputy Wendell.

What does Bell's relative Ellis tell him about fate?

Bell retires anyway, feeling overmatched by the new violence.

In what year was the film added to the US National Film Registry?

The Criterion Collection released a 4K edition the same December.

Which two Golden Globes did the film win?

It was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director but lost both.

In which US state was the author of the novel born?

He was raised in Tennessee, wrote Blood Meridian in the Southwest and won the Pulitzer for The Road in 2007.

Which McCarthy novel won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the same year the film came out?

All the Pretty Horses had won the National Book Award in 1992.

What editing pseudonym do the Coens use, which earned an Oscar nomination for this film?

Until The Ladykillers, DGA rules also had Joel credited as sole director and Ethan as sole producer.

In which Minnesota suburb were the Coen brothers raised?

Joel recalled a childhood Super 8 film called Henry Kissinger: Man on the Go in his Oscar speech.

Which English actor was put on standby to play Chigurh when Bardem nearly withdrew?

The problem was scheduling, not reluctance; once it was resolved Bardem took the part and its infamous haircut.

Which studio co-produced the film with Paramount's classics division in a 50/50 partnership?

The same pairing was shooting There Will Be Blood nearby in Texas at the same time, and the two films later faced off at the Oscars.

Which New Mexico city doubled as the film's Texas border towns?

A freeway overpass there stood in for the US-Mexico border bridge, with a checkpoint set built beside it.

In which Mexican city was the town square scene filmed?

Most of the rest of the production stayed in New Mexico and the West Texas towns of Sanderson and Marfa.

What did composer Carter Burwell use for the score after conventional instruments didn't fit?

The standing metal bells, used in Buddhist meditation, give a sustained tone when rubbed; Ethan Coen had to talk Joel into the near-silent approach.

Which production-music group's track 'Diabolic Clockwork' was used in the film's trailer?

The trailer was far noisier than the film, which contains a mere 16 minutes of music, several of them over the end credits.

Which star sued Paramount in 2008 and was paid a $17.5 million box office bonus in 2010?

His deal had been misdrafted by studio lawyers, who in turn settled with Paramount for $2.6 million over the error.

How many auditions did Garret Dillahunt do for Llewelyn Moss before landing the deputy role?

He ended up as Wendell, the sheriff's deputy, while Josh Brolin won the lead with a reel shot on the Grindhouse set.