50 Fun Facts About O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Which ancient epic poem about a long journey home is O Brother, Where Art Thou? loosely based on?

The Odyssey lends the film its hero's first name, Ulysses, the Roman form of Odysseus, yet the directors admitted neither of them had ever read the poem.

Under what band name do Everett, Pete and Delmar record a radio hit in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Soggy Bottom Boys became so popular off screen that the real singers behind the voices won the CMA Award for Single of the Year and took the film's music on tour.

Which actor plays Everett McGill, the smooth-talking escaped convict in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

George Clooney said yes to the part before reading a page of the script, telling the directors he liked even their least successful films.

In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, what does Delmar believe the singing washerwomen turned Pete into?

A toad found in Pete's empty clothes is all the proof Delmar needs, and he carries it along as his friend until Big Dan Teague kills it.

Which nickname belongs to the real bank robber the convicts meet in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Baby Face was a nickname earned by a youthful look. The real outlaw, born Lester Gillis, died in 1934, three years before the film's tale of bank raids and shot cows is set.

In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, what does Everett finally confess about the buried treasure?

He made it up so that the men shackled to him would run too, when all he wanted was to get home before his wife married another man.

In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, what do the convicts float on after rising water stops their hanging?

A pine coffin built for one of them bobs up as a raft when the water arrives, seconds after Everett, about to be hanged by Sheriff Cooley, prays for rescue.

Which old folk song becomes a surprise radio hit for the convicts in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Man of Constant Sorrow was first published in 1913 by a blind Kentucky musician, and the film's version won a Grammy nearly ninety years later.

Which brand of hair pomade will Everett not go anywhere without in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Dapper Dan tubs carrying the star's portrait, complete with a Clark Gable moustache, were handed out as a promotional gift when the film launched.

Which top Grammy did the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack win, ahead of U2 and Bob Dylan?

Album of the Year went to a collection of old gospel, blues and bluegrass songs that sold about eight million copies with barely any country radio play.

Which actor plays Big Dan Teague, the one-eyed Cyclops figure of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

John Goodman, wearing an eyepatch, was a Coen brothers regular who had already appeared in three of their films, among them The Big Lebowski.

What are the three convicts fleeing in rural Mississippi as O Brother, Where Art Thou? begins?

A chain gang is where the story starts, and the three stay shackled together until Pete's cousin Wash breaks the irons off.

Which mythical creatures do the three singing washerwomen represent in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Sirens in Homer's poem sing so sweetly that the hero has himself tied to the mast. Here they ply the convicts with drink and leave Delmar sure Pete has been bewitched.

Which ceremony do Pete and Delmar join, while Everett hangs back, in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

A baptism here stands in for the Lotus Eaters of Homer's poem, whose fruit makes travellers forget home, and Everett alone stays on the bank.

Which singalong does Governor Pappy O'Daniel use as his campaign song in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

You Are My Sunshine really was a campaign song: Jimmie Davis, who made it famous, used it on the stump and was twice elected governor of Louisiana.

Which Oscar-winning actress plays Everett's ex-wife Penny in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Holly Hunter had starred in the directors' Raising Arizona thirteen years earlier, and her character stands in for Penelope, the wife who waits in Homer's poem.

What do the fleeing convicts bring crashing down on Big Dan Teague in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

A burning cross topples onto Big Dan after the three cut its supports while fleeing with their guitarist, whom the Klan had seized to lynch.

What does one-eyed con man Big Dan Teague claim to sell for a living in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Bibles are only his cover: Big Dan talks Everett and Delmar into a picnic lunch, then mugs them, and later turns up in a Klansman's robe.

Which actor plays Pete in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, his fourth film for the Coen brothers?

John Turturro had played the lead in the directors' Barton Fink nine years earlier, and his singing here was dubbed by Nashville songwriter Harley Allen.

In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which guitarist claims he sold his soul to the devil?

Tommy Johnson was a real Mississippi bluesman whose brother said he made that boast, a legend now more often pinned on Robert Johnson.

Which 1941 Preston Sturges comedy gave O Brother, Where Art Thou? its title?

Sullivan's Travels follows a comedy director who longs to make a grim social drama with that very title, then decides that making people laugh is worth more.

Which O Brother, Where Art Thou? actor, a classics graduate, did the Coens say alone had read Homer's epic?

Tim Blake Nelson, who plays Delmar, studied classics at Brown University, while the directors cheerfully admitted they knew the poem only from adaptations.

Pappy O'Daniel in O Brother, Where Art Thou? is based on a real radio-host governor of which state?

Texas elected W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel governor after he found fame hosting a radio show with a hillbilly band, and he later beat a future president to a Senate seat.

Which bluegrass singer supplied Everett's singing voice in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Dan Tyminski sang the lead the film's star mimed to. The star did record a take, as his aunt was a famous singer and talent was assumed to run in the family, but it did not.

What vehicle does the blind seer ride at the start and end of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

A handcar carries the old man who foretells that the three will find a fortune, though not the one they seek; he is the film's answer to the blind prophet Tiresias.

What does Penny tell her daughters happened to their father Everett in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Hit by a train is the tale Penny spread before taking up with a new suitor, Vernon, who works for Homer Stokes and ends up trading blows with Everett.

In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, what is the name of Everett's hometown, borrowed from Homer's epic?

Ithaca is the island kingdom that the hero of Homer's poem spends ten years trying to reach, and the film's version is a fictional Mississippi town.

In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, what does Sheriff Cooley torch while the convicts are asleep inside?

A barn belonging to Pete's cousin Wash goes up in flames after Wash himself reports them, and it is Wash's own son who helps the three get away.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? was the first feature film to have what done entirely by digital means?

Color correction on a computer turned the lush Mississippi summer a dusty yellow, after Joel Coen complained that the real locations were greener than Ireland.

Which award did the leading man of O Brother, Where Art Thou? win for playing Everett?

A Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy or musical went to the star, though the Oscars passed him over and nominated only the script and the photography.

Which record producer assembled the Grammy-winning soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

T Bone Burnett, once a guitarist in Bob Dylan's touring band, later worked with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon on their singing for Walk the Line.

Which bluegrass star sings "Down to the River to Pray" for O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Alison Krauss also sang for one of the three washerwomen, while a guitarist from her own band supplied the singing voice of the film's hero.

Which relative taped the whole O Brother, Where Art Thou? script so its star could learn the accent?

His uncle Jack, a devout Baptist from Kentucky, quietly left out every swear word as he read, and the star only found out when the directors told him on set.

What must Everett find before Penny will agree to marry him again in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Her original ring is never recovered: the one fished out of the floodwater is, Penny insists, not hers, so the film ends with Everett still pleading.

In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, where does the recaptured Pete warn Everett and Delmar of an ambush?

A movie theater fills with a line of prisoners brought in to watch the picture, a scene borrowed directly from the 1941 comedy that gave the film its title.

Governor Pappy O'Daniel hosts a radio hour named for which product in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Flour made the real O'Daniel's name too: he sold it on air with his own western swing band before he ever ran for governor.

Which federal agency's dam is about to drown Everett's home in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Tennessee Valley Authority dams were bringing electric power to the rural South in the 1930s, and Everett hails that power as the end of old superstitions.

At which European film festival did O Brother, Where Art Thou? premiere in May 2000?

Cannes screened it in competition for the Palme d'Or, a full seven months before American audiences saw it that December.

At what stage of making O Brother, Where Art Thou? was its soundtrack recorded?

Before filming began, because the songs were meant to drive the story, so the actors mimed on set to finished recordings instead of having music added later.

What do the singing washerwomen give the convicts to drink in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Corn whiskey sends all three to sleep, and when Delmar and Everett wake, Pete has vanished, leaving only his clothes on the riverbank.

Which British cinematographer was Oscar-nominated for shooting O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Roger Deakins earned his fourth Oscar nomination for the film but kept losing, and did not win until his fourteenth nomination, for Blade Runner 2049.

Which bluegrass veteran sings the a cappella "O Death" in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Ralph Stanley was 75 when the performance won him the Grammy for best male country vocal, and in the film the voice belongs to the Klan's leader, Homer Stokes.

Which Nashville venue hosted the May 2000 concert of music from O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Ryman Auditorium, the old home of the Grand Ole Opry, staged the show as a benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame, months before the film opened in America.

Which song does Delmar's actor really sing himself on the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

In the Jailhouse Now, a yodelling 1928 record for Jimmie Rodgers, is the only lead vocal by one of the stars, and elsewhere the three mime to Nashville singers.

Sheriff Cooley of O Brother, Where Art Thou? is likened to Boss Godfrey from which 1967 prison film?

Cool Hand Luke gave the screen Walking Boss Godfrey, a quiet rifleman nicknamed the man with no eyes because he never takes off his mirrored sunglasses.

The dance of the Klansmen in O Brother, Where Art Thou? is lifted from which 1939 Hollywood classic?

The Wizard of Oz reached cinemas two years after the story's 1937 setting, a wink typical of a film that also borrows from Homer and Preston Sturges.

What household object does reform candidate Homer Stokes brandish in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

A broom was a real prop of the reform era, a promise to sweep away corruption, and the politician who inspired Stokes's rival once carried one on the stump.

Which 1928 Harry McClintock hobo song plays over the opening of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Big Rock Candy Mountain, a hobo's dream of paradise, is one of the few vintage recordings on the soundtrack, and McClintock claimed he wrote it back in 1895.

Under which invented name do the Coen brothers edit films such as O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Roderick Jaynes is an alias the brothers share, yet the Academy has nominated him for Best Film Editing, including for No Country for Old Men.

Which folklorist's 1959 prison recording opens the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Alan Lomax taped prisoner James Carter leading Po' Lazarus at Parchman Farm, and some forty years later Carter was traced to Chicago and paid $20,000.