Half-Assed Internet Research
Research covers the Yeats title, differences from the novel, McCarthy’s reaction, low shooting ratio, Fargo parallels, injuries, neighboring production, custom weaponry, and body count.
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:35Read transcript
- The title comes from the opening of W. B. Yeats’s “Sailing to Byzantium.”
- Carla Jean reacts more strongly in the novel, and a young woman by the pool has a larger role that helps expose Llewelyn.
- Cormac McCarthy reportedly chuckled a few times at a screening, which the Coens accepted as approval.
- Roger Deakins said the production exposed roughly 250,000 feet of film rather than the 700,000 to one million common on less-planned shoots.
- The Coens minimized conscious Fargo parallels despite clear affinities with their earlier Texas crime film Blood Simple.
- Brolin broke his shoulder in a motorcycle accident after getting the role and concealed the severity; the character’s gunshot injury helped filming.
- There Will Be Blood’s oil-fire smoke once halted No Country nearby, and an unverified set anecdote has Daniel Day-Lewis biking through while shouting.
- Chigurh’s suppressed shotgun was constructed specially because that suppressor did not exist, and the estimated body count is 22.