No Country for Old Men/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Actor Allusion: A very dark example. When ruminating on the state of the world, Sheriff Bell references the recent murder of a federal judge. The murder occurred in real life and was committed by hitman Charles Harrelson, father of Woody Harrelson who plays Wells.
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty: Contrary to what the trailers and DVD chapter listing will tell you, Chigurh never says "Call it, friendo"; they're in two different lines ("What business is it of yours where I'm from...friendo?"/"Call it.").
  • Career Resurrection: It helped get Josh Brolin noticed again after a long down period in his career.
  • Dawson Casting: Carla Jean is a teenage wife in the novel and is played by 30-year-old Kelly MacDonald in the film.
  • Fake American: Kelly Macdonald, who plays Carla Jean, hails from Scotland.
  • Fake Nationality: Possibly-Mexican Anton Chigurh is played by Spaniard Javier Bardem.
  • Hey, It's That Guy: Is that Cromartie talking to the sheriff? Oh God, run. RUN!
  • Mean Character, Nice Actor: Javier Bardem, whose icy, menacing and intense performance as Anton Chigurh won him a well-deserved Oscar and created one of the most memorable movie villains in recent history, is in reality a very meek and soft-spoken man; most of his other roles have been in romantic comedies. He confessed to being alarmed by the graphic violence in the film and the pure evil of his character, and says he only agreed to take the part because he believed the Coens were using violence to make a meaningful statement.
  • Reality Subtext: The book was written partly as the author's reaction to the sensation of escalating violence brought in by drug trafficking, starting in the early eighties and continuing to this day. To evoke this, the book and movie are Period Pieces. The author's response to this feeling can possibly be seen in the Uncle's speech near the end, who outright states that things are not worse or better than the past, they just always feel that way to those living at that moment.
  • The Red Stapler: The demand for silenced, pistol-grip shotguns increased as a result of Chigurh's primary weapon.
  • Throw It In: During early readings, Spanish actor Javier Bardem attempted unsuccessfully to downplay his accent; the Coens liked the resultant mangled, unidentifiable dialect so much that they encouraged him to speak like that for the entire film, hence Chigurh's strange and unsettling accent.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/No_Country_for_Old_Men/Trivia?oldid=1235458"