50 Fun Facts About Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Which actress won her second Best Actress Oscar as Mildred Hayes in Three Billboards?

Frances McDormand had her new statuette stolen briefly after the awards ceremony. She won it for playing a grieving mother who challenges her local police force.

What is true of Ebbing, the Missouri town where Mildred Hayes rents her three roadside billboards?

It is entirely fictional: no such town exists in Missouri, and the streets seen on screen belong to a real mountain town in a different state.

Which actor won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar as the bullying Officer Jason Dixon in Three Billboards?

Sam Rockwell had the part of Dixon written specially for him. Wanting Dixon to be the exact opposite of Mildred, he took inspiration from the screen tough guy Lee Marvin.

Which Cheers star plays Bill Willoughby, the police chief singled out by name in Three Billboards?

Woody Harrelson earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for the role, which put him in the same category as one of his own co-stars from the film.

Which Game of Thrones star plays James, who gives Mildred Hayes an alibi in Three Billboards?

Peter Dinklage plays James, who happens to pass by and puts out Dixon's burning clothes before covering for Mildred. She later thanks him with a dinner date.

What does Mildred Hayes hurl at the Ebbing police station after her billboards are destroyed by fire?

Molotov cocktails set the station ablaze while Dixon is inside reading a letter. A passer-by puts out his burning clothes and then covers for Mildred.

Which terminal illness does police chief Bill Willoughby have in Three Billboards, an open secret around town?

Pancreatic cancer is why many townspeople resent the billboards: they see Mildred as hounding a dying man. Willoughby even coughs blood onto her during questioning.

To which state do Mildred Hayes and Dixon set off at the end of Three Billboards, pursuing a suspected rapist?

Idaho is the state on the license plate Dixon noted outside a bar. On the road the pair admit they are unsure about killing the man and agree to decide along the way.

Which filmmaker wrote and directed Three Billboards, earning an Oscar nomination for its original screenplay?

Martin McDonagh said it took him about ten years to decide that a mother had put up the real accusatory roadside signs he once passed, and to build a story around her.

Which film beat Three Billboards to the Best Picture Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards?

The Shape of Water took four Oscars that night, more than any other film, while Three Billboards went home with two acting awards from its seven nominations.

In which state was Three Billboards actually filmed, around the mountain town of Sylva?

North Carolina hosted the 33-day shoot, and the billboards themselves stood in a pasture near Black Mountain, about 60 miles east of the main location.

The star who plays Mildred Hayes in Three Billboards won her first Oscar as a police chief in which film?

Fargo brought her the award for playing the pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson, a character the American Film Institute later ranked among its greatest screen heroes.

Which US president did the actor who plays Officer Dixon in Three Billboards portray a year later in Vice?

George W. Bush brought him a second straight Oscar nomination, in Adam McKay's biopic, the year after his win as Dixon.

What does Mildred Hayes do to the dentist who menaces her during an appointment in Three Billboards?

She drills into his thumbnail, which gets her brought in for questioning. The dentist had sided with the police chief over her billboards.

How does Chief Willoughby die in Three Billboards, after an idyllic day with his wife and children?

He takes his own life that night to spare his family from watching him die slowly, leaving behind letters for Mildred and Dixon.

Who drunkenly sets fire to Mildred Hayes's billboards in Three Billboards, as he later admits in a restaurant?

Her ex-husband owns up while she is out on a date, leaving her unnerved that she had already retaliated against the wrong target.

What does Chief Willoughby's letter to Mildred Hayes reveal he secretly paid for in Ebbing, Missouri?

A month's billboard rent was his parting gesture. The letter also tells Mildred that she played no part in his death and that he did care about getting justice for Angela.

With his clothes on fire, what does Officer Dixon carry out of the blazing police station in Three Billboards?

The murder case file survives because Dixon grabs it on his way out, moments after he was reading a letter left for him by his late boss.

How does Dixon obtain a DNA sample from the stranger he overhears bragging in a bar in Three Billboards?

Dixon scratches his face on purpose, then passively accepts the beating that follows. He also notes the man's license plate before leaving.

In Three Billboards, whom does Dixon throw from a second-storey window after learning of Chief Willoughby's death?

Red Welby is the man who rented Mildred the billboards. The attack gets Dixon fired, and the two later end up sharing a hospital room.

Besides a DNA mismatch, what clears the bar patron of Angela's killing in Three Billboards?

He was serving overseas on military duty when Angela died. Mildred and Dixon still believe he attacked someone else, which is why they go after him anyway.

On what charge does Dixon arrest Denise, a friend of Mildred Hayes, to put pressure on her in Three Billboards?

Drug possession, and a trivial charge at that: the arrest was suggested by Dixon's own mother as a way to lean on Mildred.

According to Chief Willoughby's letter in Three Billboards, what must Dixon embrace to become a detective one day?

Love, the letter says, in place of the hate he carries. Dixon is inside reading it when the police station catches fire around him.

Before agreeing to play Mildred in Three Billboards, its star suggested the character should be Angela's what?

Grandmother was her suggestion, because she felt too old to play Angela's mother, but the director disagreed, feeling it would change the story too much.

Which Western film icon did the lead actress of Three Billboards use as her inspiration for playing Mildred Hayes?

John Wayne was her model because she approached Mildred as the protagonist of a modern-style Western. Her co-star then picked a rival Western tough guy for Dixon.

Which filmmaker, married to the Three Billboards lead actress since 1984, persuaded her to play Mildred Hayes?

Joel Coen talked her round after she had doubts about the part. She made her film debut in Blood Simple, the first film he made with his brother.

The real roadside signs that inspired Three Billboards were spotted near the town of Vidor in which state?

Texas is where a grieving father, James Fulton, had posted signs along Interstate 10 accusing the police of failing over the 1991 killing of his daughter Kathy Page.

Why were the prop signs built for Three Billboards usually kept covered when the cameras were not rolling?

Locals found them upsetting, so the messages were hidden between takes. The timber later became a roof in Douglas Lake, Tennessee, with the wording no longer legible.

Which composer, also Oscar-nominated for Carol, wrote the score for Three Billboards?

Carter Burwell built Mildred a war-march theme on guitar, mandolin and strings after the director told him the film was about a woman at war with the police.

Before making films, the writer-director of Three Billboards first made his name in the 1990s as what?

A playwright first: his dark comedies set in the west of Ireland reached Broadway and the West End, and some theatres refused them over their language.

At which European film festival did Three Billboards have its world premiere and win the Best Screenplay prize?

Venice gave it the screenplay award, while the festival's top prize, the Golden Lion, went to the same rival that later beat it to Best Picture at the Oscars.

At which festival did Three Billboards win the People's Choice Award, finishing ahead of runner-up I, Tonya?

Toronto audiences voted it the festival's top prize in September 2017, less than two weeks after its premiere, with Call Me by Your Name placing third.

Before Three Billboards, which was the only film since 1992 to win both Best Film and Outstanding British Film BAFTAs?

The King's Speech had done the double seven years earlier. Three Billboards took five BAFTAs in all, including awards for its screenplay and two of its cast.

Which film beat Three Billboards to the Best Original Screenplay Oscar on the night it won two acting awards?

Get Out won, making its writer-director Jordan Peele the first African American winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

Which studio label, also behind Juno and Little Miss Sunshine, released Three Billboards in American cinemas?

Fox Searchlight opened it in just four theaters in November 2017, where it earned one of the year's best per-theater averages, before going wide in December.

Which 2008 hitman comedy starring Colin Farrell was the first feature by the writer-director of Three Billboards?

In Bruges earned him an Oscar nomination, and its composer came back to score both of his next two features, Three Billboards included.

Which 2022 Best Picture nominee was the next film from the writer-director of Three Billboards?

The Banshees of Inisherin received nine Oscar nominations. It was announced in 2020 but delayed by the pandemic, so filming only began in August 2021.

Which Oscar-winning short by the director of Three Billboards was included as a bonus on the film's Blu-ray?

Six Shooter was the first film he wrote and directed, a black comedy with Brendan Gleeson that won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

The writer-director of Three Billboards, famed for stories set in rural Ireland, was born in which city?

London, to Irish parents who moved back to Galway in 1992 while he and his brother stayed behind. He holds an Irish passport and spent childhood holidays in Galway.

In 2018, three vans styled on the signs in Three Billboards demanded arrests over which British disaster?

Grenfell Tower fire campaigners hired three vans with electronic screens, eight months after the blaze, to protest what they saw as official inaction.

Which Manchester by the Sea Oscar nominee plays Robbie, the son of Mildred Hayes, in Three Billboards?

Lucas Hedges appeared in two of that year's Best Picture nominees, also taking a supporting role in Greta Gerwig's directorial debut, Lady Bird.

Which Winter's Bone Oscar nominee plays Charlie Hayes, the father of Mildred's children, in Three Billboards?

John Hawkes plays a former lawman who turns up with a 19-year-old girlfriend, and who admits he refused when Angela asked to come and live with him.

Which Australian actress plays Anne, the wife of police chief Bill Willoughby, in Three Billboards?

Abbie Cornish had worked with the same director before, in Seven Psychopaths, and shared the Screen Actors Guild cast award for this film.

Which Irish actress, the voice of F.R.I.D.A.Y. in Marvel films, plays Pamela in Three Billboards?

Kerry Condon had already appeared in two of the director's stage works, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Cripple of Inishmaan, before he cast her on screen.

Which Ready or Not star plays Penelope, the 19-year-old girlfriend of Charlie Hayes, in Three Billboards?

Samara Weaving is the niece of the actor Hugo Weaving and began her career in Australian television, including the soap opera Home and Away.

Which actor, Lester Freamon in The Wire, plays Abercrombie, the new police chief who fires Dixon in Three Billboards?

Clarke Peters shares the film with another alumnus of The Wire: Darrell Britt-Gibson, who plays Jerome, had a recurring role in that crime series.

Which actress, later Marvel's Cassie Lang, plays teenager Angela Hayes in Three Billboards?

Kathryn Newton appears only briefly, in Mildred's memory of their last argument, and was also seen that year in the HBO series Big Little Lies.

After the Parkland school shooting, vans copying Three Billboards circled the offices of which Florida senator?

Marco Rubio was the target of the activist group Avaaz, whose three vans demanded gun control in the film's blunt three-part format.

Inspired by Three Billboards, activists in which island nation put up signs for slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia?

Malta's authorities took the billboards down the next day, calling them illegal, and activists answered by laying banners near the prime minister's office.

A 2018 mural in Bristol copied the format of Three Billboards to protest the funding of which institution?

The NHS was the cause: campaigners acted after a coroner linked a 15-year-old girl's death to neglect caused by a lack of health-service resources.