
While Joel and Ethan Coen are celebrated for their unique spins on topics ranging from crime (Fargo) to laid-back lifestyles (The Big Lebowski), their 2007 film No Country for Old Men became one of their most commercially successful projects.
Based on Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel—initially conceived as a screenplay—the movie is set in 1980s West Texas. It weaves together the stories of Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a Vietnam veteran who discovers a failed drug deal and $2 million in the desert; Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a ruthless killer determined to recover the money; and Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a retiring sheriff pursuing both men. Here are some lesser-known facts about this Oscar-winning western crime thriller.
1. SCOTT RUDIN INTRODUCED THE COEN BROTHERS TO THE BOOK.
Despite becoming one of their most acclaimed and profitable films, the idea to adapt Cormac McCarthy’s novel didn’t originate with Joel or Ethan Coen. “Scott Rudin, the producer who owned the rights, sent it to us,” Joel Coen explained in an interview. “He shared the galleys about a year before publication and asked if we’d be interested. We’d enjoyed McCarthy’s other works, but this one stood out as a story that could translate into a compelling film.”
2. HEATH LEDGER WAS INITIALLY CONSIDERED TO PLAY LLEWELYN MOSS.
Heath Ledger was reportedly the Coens’ top pick for Llewelyn Moss and expressed interest in collaborating with them. However, after preliminary discussions, he decided to step away from the role to take a break from acting.
3. GARRET DILLAHUNT TRIED OUT FOR LLEWELYN’S ROLE. FIVE TIMES.
Garret Dillahunt, known for his role in Deadwood, portrays the endearing Deputy Wendell in the movie. However, he initially auditioned multiple times for the part of Llewelyn.
“I tried out for Moss five times, each time a bigger name dropped out,” Dillahunt shared with The A.V. Club. “This happens to me often—when stars back out, I get a chance. I auditioned for the Coens in both New York and L.A., but it wasn’t meant to be. They needed someone more well-known. Instead, they offered me the role of Wendell, which became a small, uplifting moment for viewers before the next intense scene.”
4. QUENTIN TARANTINO AND ROBERT RODRIGUEZ HELPED JOSH BROLIN WITH HIS AUDITION.
Josh Brolin wasn’t a household name when he secured the role of Moss, but he had influential allies. While filming Grindhouse with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, Brolin asked to borrow a camera for his No Country for Old Men audition. The directors went a step further, personally directing his audition tape.
“Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino filmed my first audition using a high-end Genesis camera during a lunch break on Grindhouse,” Brolin recalled. “It looked fantastic, but it was rejected. They focused on the lighting, not my appearance. My agent kept pushing, not claiming I was perfect but insisting they meet me. Eventually, they did.”
In the end, it all came together—with just one small hiccup along the way.
5. BROLIN SUFFERED A SHOULDER INJURY SHORTLY AFTER SECURING THE ROLE.
Just days after being cast as Moss, Brolin had a motorcycle accident, colliding with a car and breaking his shoulder. As he flew through the air, he recalled thinking, “I’m soaring over the car—and getting serious air—and all I could think was, ‘Damn it! I really wanted to work with the Coens.’”
Determined not to lose the role he’d fought so hard for, Brolin kept his injury a secret. “I got lucky,” he later admitted at the Toronto Film Festival. “My character gets shot in the shoulder early in the film, so I didn’t have to fake the pain.”
Since Brolin didn’t reveal his injury, Joel Coen mentioned they felt no obligation to address it. “He didn’t make it obvious,” Joel said. “He had the accident a week or two before filming and blatantly lied about how serious it was. So, we felt free to ignore his discomfort.”
6. JAVIER BARDEM INITIALLY STRUGGLED WITH THE FILM’S VIOLENCE.
While Javier Bardem was thrilled about collaborating with the Coens, he felt uneasy portraying a character as violent as Anton Chigurh. He even questioned why the Coens considered him for the role. “I don’t particularly enjoy killing people—even in movies,” Bardem told Entertainment Weekly. “When the Coens reached out, I said, ‘I’m not the right choice. I don’t drive, my English isn’t great, and I dislike violence.’ They laughed and replied, ‘Maybe that’s why we called you.’”
7. MARK STRONG BELIEVED HE HAD SECURED THE ROLE OF ANTON CHIGURH.
Although the Coens were set on Bardem, scheduling conflicts initially made it seem he might not be available. This led them to consider Mark Strong. “I got a call saying Javier’s dates didn’t align, so for a few days, I thought, ‘I’m actually going to work with the Coen brothers,’” Strong recalled. However, when Bardem’s schedule cleared, Strong’s opportunity vanished.
The situation became more complicated when rumors spread that Strong had turned down the role. He was quick to clarify: “I’m horrified by that rumor because it makes me seem foolish. Why would anyone reject such a role? I’d do anything to work with them.”
8. CHIGURH’S HAIRSTYLE WAS INSPIRED BY A LOCAL IN WEST TEXAS.
Chigurh’s unforgettable—and undeniably terrible—hairstyle is a defining feature of his character. When discussing its origin, Ethan explained, “The art department conducted extensive research, focusing on photos from the 1980 Texas border region. They came across a picture of a man at a West Texas bar in 1979, sporting that striking haircut and similar clothing. We thought he looked like a sociopath, and Javier loved the idea too.”
Bardem viewed the haircut as almost a separate character. He told the Los Angeles Times, “You don’t need to act out the haircut; it does the work for you. With that hairstyle, you don’t have to try to seem strange—it already makes you look that way.”
9. CHIGURH’S BOOTS WERE JUST AS MENACING.
The alligator boots Chigurh wore were custom-made by costume designer Mary Zophres. She designed them to embody his character, ensuring they appeared “rough, sharp, and menacing enough to seem like they could kill someone.”
10. THE COENS WERE SKEPTICAL ABOUT KELLY MACDONALD’S ABILITY TO HANDLE THE ROLE.
In a Rotten Tomatoes interview, Kelly Macdonald revealed that her casting as Carla Jean Moss wasn’t a straightforward fairy tale. When asked about the excitement of being chosen by the Coen brothers, she clarified that it wasn’t as simple as receiving a call.
“If it had happened that way, it would’ve been thrilling, but that’s not how it went,” she explained. “The Coens didn’t even know why I was there. I was in New York, and my agent arranged a meeting with the casting director. They hadn’t started casting yet, but she suggested I meet Joel and Ethan. The meeting was casual, and I clearly didn’t fit the West Texas vibe they were after. They were polite but puzzled, thinking the casting director had lost her mind. Then I read a few scenes, and everything clicked.”
11. THE FILM REQUIRED A LOT OF EXPENSIVE FAKE BLOOD.
Despite the Coens’ careful planning, they hadn’t anticipated the cost of fake blood. Typically, productions use inexpensive sugar-based blood, but filming in the desert posed a problem: bugs would swarm the extras. To avoid this, they ordered a special bug-resistant fake blood from England, which cost around $800 per gallon, Joel revealed.
12. THE COENS AIMED TO PORTRAY VIOLENCE IN A STRAIGHTFORWARD MANNER.
Despite the film’s numerous violent scenes, including a death by cattle stun gun, the Coens avoided glorifying the violence. “They wanted the lighting and filming to be straightforward,” Roger Deakins, their longtime cinematographer, told IGN. “We didn’t aim to sensationalize or downplay the violence. It’s simply there, and you must accept it. The film’s later impact relies on establishing this brutal world. We wanted to depict it as it was.”
13. THE WEATHER DIDN’T COOPERATE.
Filming for No Country for Old Men took place in the summer of 2006 in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and Marfa, Texas. The Coens expected clear, barren landscapes, but nature had other plans. Real thunder and lightning storms appear throughout the film. “That thunder is genuine,” Bardem told W Magazine.
“We’d get hit with 50-mile-per-hour winds out of nowhere,” Brolin added. “Dust devils would roll in, or it would pour like a monsoon for 10 minutes and then stop. The weather reports predicted clear skies, but it didn’t work out that way. In the end, it turned out beautifully.”
14. PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON ALSO CAUSED ISSUES.
Although most of the filming occurred in New Mexico, the crew spent several weeks in Marfa, Texas, to capture scenes set near the Mexican border. Coincidentally, director Paul Thomas Anderson was also in Marfa, working on There Will Be Blood. The two productions coexisted peacefully until a pyrotechnic test on Anderson’s set produced a massive smoke cloud visible to the Coens’ cameras, forcing them to halt filming for the day.
15. THE CLOSING SCENE WAS CAPTURED IN A SINGLE TAKE.
The Coens have called No Country for Old Men their closest attempt at an action film, yet it concludes with a subdued moment—Tommy Lee Jones’s sheriff recounting a dream about his late father. His performance was flawless, and he reportedly completed the scene in one take. When asked by W Magazine how many takes it required, Jones replied, “One.” Asked if it was challenging, he simply said, “Naw. I’d been practicin’.”