10 Things You Didn’t Know About No Country For Old Men

The Coen brothers really blew us away with No Country for Old Men, so here are some facts and trivia about the film you might not have known!

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Few filmmakers working in Hollywood today share more mutual respect among peers, critics, and general filmgoers than Joel and Ethan Coen. Indeed, the iconic filmmaking siblings have essayed every genre under the sun and rarely cover the same territory from one film to the next. Of course, their finest hour came in 2007 after adapting Cormac McCarthy’s neo-noir thriller, No Country For Old Men.

The superb crime film went on to win Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actor. As the film turns 13 years old this year, here are 10 things you didn’t know about No Country for Old Men!

10 Title Reference

The underlying theme of No Country For Old Men involves the storyline of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones). As the world changes and transforms into a place he cannot recognize much less understand, Bell becomes an outmoded relic.

Apparently, the title of the film came from the poem “Sailing to Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats. The first line of the poem includes the phrase “That is no country for old men.” Thematically, the poem tracks an elderly man’s impending death and what he ponders awaits him in the afterlife. Bell’s storyline is almost identical.

9 Chigurh’s Haircut

Part of what makes Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) such a mortifying villain in the film is his creepy bowl haircut. This haircut was not chosen by accident but deliberately meant to mock a 1979 photo the Coen Brothers found of a sleazy brothel customer. Seriously.

Upon seeing the haircut, Bardem lamented that he wouldn’t “get laid for the next two months.” The Coens celebrated with a high five, knowing they found the perfect look of repulsive intimidation for the character. Cut to Bardem’s Oscar speech!

8 Briefcase

In terms of the plot of the film, the main conflict comes in the form of a briefcase full of $2 million in dirty drug money. Once Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds the cash, he desperately tries to keep it out of Chigurh’s hands.

In the Coen’s Fargo, a similar plot takes where a briefcase full of $1 million in ransom money is up for grabs among a spate of sordid criminals. Well, if you haven’t guessed, the exact same briefcase was used in both films. Notice the boxy shape, indented side panels, and gold lock-buckles on top of the case. Exactly the same!

7 Chigurh’s Silencer

In both McCarthy’s source novel and the adapted screenplay, Chigurh’s shotgun silencer is described as being the size of a beer can. Well, no such sound-suppressors exist, so one was made specifically for this film. Joel and Ethan Coen are the ones who created the device.

Furthermore, Chigurh’s other trusty weapon of choice is the captive bolt pistol, commonly used to stun cattle prior to slaughter. Well, for the sound of the pistol, a nailgun was used for the sound effect.

6 West Texas Shoot

While much of the film was shot in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Texas native Tommy Lee Jones urged the Coens to film some scenes in West Texas. The Coens obliged, setting up shop in Marfa, Texas. Little did they know they’d have some serious Oscar-contending company.

Indeed, as No Country For Old Men was being filmed, so too was P.T. Anderson’s There Will Be Blood very nearby. In fact, so close were the two productions that the Coens had to halt filming one day after a giant smokestack interrupted their frame. The smoke came from Anderson’s pyrotechnic test for the iconic burning oil-derrick in his film.

5 Loretta’s Boots

One of the most kindhearted characters in the entire film is Loretta Bell (Tess Harper), Ed Tom’s wife. Here’s a cool little tidbit about Loretta’s outfit. She wore the exact same boots in the film as she did in Tender Mercies in 1983, another Texas-set story.

According to Harper, she wore the boots in No Country For Old Men because she felt Loretta could actually be an older version of her character Rosa Lee in Tender Mercies. Both films won Oscars for stellar acting performances.

4 Kubrick Nod

The Coens’ filmography is littered with overt and covert references to the late great Stanley Kubrick. In No Country For Old Men, a numerical reference to no less than four Kubrick films can be spotted in plain sight.

Spoiler alert. Llewlyn Moss is ultimately killed in motel room #114. When the police arrive, yellow “crime” tape makes the room number as CRM-114. Well, CRM-114 was first referenced in Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove as the Discriminator, a piece of radio equipment assisting nuclear armament. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, CRM-114 is the name of an escape pod. In A Clockwork Orange, CRM-114 translates as the brainwashing Serum 114. In Kubrick’s swan song, Eyes Wide Shut, a mortuary is labeled Wing C, Room 114.

3 Brolin’s Injury

The phrase art imitates life perfectly applies to Josh Brolin’s experience on No Country For Old Men. Just prior to filming his first Coen Brothers movie, a lifelong dream, the actor suffered a severe shoulder injury. It was so bad he nearly quit the film two days after earning the part.

Brolin broke his shoulder after flying over the hood of the car that hit his motorcycle. However, Brolin did not miss a single day of filming, as his character Llewlyn Moss gets shot in the shoulder very early in the film. Brolin simply used his real-life injury to simulate that of Llewlyn.

2 Brolin’s Audition

Believe it or not, the late great Heath Ledger was in early talks to star as Llewlyn Moss in the film. He declined the part, opting for time off instead. Enter Josh Brolin’s enterprising audition!

While filming Grind House, Brolin learned of the uncast part of Llewlyn Moss. He asked director Robert Rodriguez to lend him a handheld camera to film his audition for No Country. Rodriguez instead used the elaborate camera for Grindhouse to film Brolin’s audition, with Marley Shelton standing in for the part of Cara Jean (Kelly McDonald). Upon seeing the footage, the Coens were more concerned with who lit the audition rather than Brolin’s performance. Brolin won the part anyway!

1 Harrelson Connection

In the film, Woody Harrelson plays Carson Wells, a former army colonel who is hired to find the missing $2 million in stolen cash. In McCarthy’s source novel, a major connection with Harrelson is established.

In the novel, Sheriff Bell makes mention of dope-dealers shooting a Federal Judge to death in San Antonio. As the story is set in 1980, the sentence most certainly refers to Federal Judge John Howland Wood, who was shot to death in 1979. Wood’s killer was none other than Charles Harrelson, a freelance assassin who happens to be Woody Harrelson’s father!

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/no-country-for-old-men-facts-trivia/