80th Academy Awards · 2008
No Country for Old Men
Directed by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“There are no clean getaways.”
The story
Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.
What critics & audiences say
Tomatometer93%Fresh#38 of 98 winnersFamous lines
What's the most you've ever lost on a coin toss?
If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?
What business is it of yours, where I'm from... "friendo"?
This country's hard on people. You can't stop what's comin'. It ain't all waitin' on you. That's vanity.
Proprietor: I didn't put nothin' up.
Chigurh: Yes, you did. You've been "putting it up" your whole life, you just didn't know it.
Carla Jean: The coin don't have no say. It's just you.
Chigurh: Well, I got here the same way the coin did.
Llewelyn Moss: I'm fixin' to do somethin' dumber'n hell but I'm goin' anyways. If I don't come back, tell Mother I love her.
Carla Jean: Your mother's dead, Llewelyn.
Llewelyn: Well then, I'll tell her myself.
Deputy Wendell: This is turnin' into a hell of a mess, ain't it, Sheriff?
Sheriff Ed Tom Bell: If it isn't, it'll do until the mess gets here.
Anywhere not in your pocket. Or it'll get mixed in with the others and become just a coin… which it is.
Compared to what, bubonic plague? He's bad enough you called me.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Fun facts
- There Will Be Blood, its future Oscar rival, was shooting in Marfa, Texas, at the same time, and the Coens had to scrap an entire day of filming when preparations for that film's oil derrick scene produced enough smoke to ruin their shots.Wikipedia · Filming
- According to a 2014 study by researchers at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Anton Chigurh is the most clinically accurate portrayal of a psychopath in film to date.Wikipedia · Depicted violence
- Javier Bardem became the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar, thanking the Coens "for being crazy enough to think I could do that and put one of the most horrible hair cuts in history on my head."Wikipedia · Accolades
- The role of Llewelyn Moss was originally offered to Heath Ledger, who turned it down to spend time with his newborn daughter Matilda.Wikipedia · Cast
- Josh Brolin, who was not the Coens' first choice for Moss, enlisted Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez to help make an audition reel while he was working on their film Grindhouse.Wikipedia · Cast
- The film contains a mere 16 minutes of music, much of it in the end credits. Composer Carter Burwell used Buddhist singing bowls and tuned one swelling hum to the 60-hertz frequency of a refrigerator.Wikipedia · Musical score and sound
- Cinematographer Roger Deakins said the Coens storyboard everything, so they shot only 250,000 feet of film where a production that size might shoot 700,000 to a million feet; Deakins added that he never uses a zoom.Wikipedia · Filming
- Josh Brolin said the Coens gave "zero compliments" on set, until Woody Harrelson stumbled through a scene unable to remember his lines and both brothers exclaimed, "Oh my God! Fantastic!"Wikipedia · Directing
- Accepting Best Director, Joel Coen recalled a Super 8 film the brothers made as kids called Henry Kissinger: Man on the Go. It was only the second time two people shared the directing Oscar, after West Side Story.Wikipedia · Accolades
- Tommy Lee Jones sued Paramount in 2008 over bonuses, and in 2010 the studio paid him a $17.5 million box office bonus after it was determined his deal had been misdrafted by studio attorneys.Wikipedia · Disputes