Trivia for
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) More at IMDb Pro »

• The title is taken from the title of the film the director wants to make in Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels (1941).
  
  
• George Clooney agreed to do this film without having read the script.
  
  
• The whole film was graded digitally on computer. The negative was scanned in with a Spirit Datacine at 2K resolution and then colors were digitally fine-tuned. The process took several weeks. The resulting digital master was output on film again with a Kodak laser recorder to create a print master. It was the first time this had been done for a whole film in Hollywood (but not in other countries).
  
  

• The American Humane Association, an organization that protects animal rights, mistook a computer-generated cow in the movie for a real animal and demanded proof before they would allow the use of their famous disclaimer, "No animals were harmed in the making of this motion picture." After seeing a demonstration at Digital Domain of how the cow was created, the Humane Association added the now-familiar (but then much rarer) "Scenes which may appear to place an animal in jeopardy were simulated."
  
  
• The cabin in the valley before it is flooded is a replica of the cabin from The Evil Dead (1981), a movie directed by 'Sam Raimi (I)', a friend and co-conspirator of the Coens.
  
  
• The scene where Ulysses, Pete and Delmar come upon the KKK meeting is a reference to the scene in The Wizard of Oz (1939) when the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion sneak up on the Witch's castle. The chanting and formation marching of the Witch's guards are mimicked by the KKK members. Infiltration is achieved in both films by overpowering three guards and KKK members respectively and donning their garb.
  
  
• References to Homer's Odyssey: - The names of George Clooney and Holly Hunter's characters (Ulysses and Penelope) - one-eyed Big Dan as the Cyclops (blinded with a burning pole) - the three girls by the river as the Sirens - Ulysses' wife marrying someone else when he comes home - the old-man disguise - the changing of one of Ulysses' companions into an animal - the Baptists as the Lotus-eaters - the Ku Klux Klan has a rank of Grand (or Exalted) Cyclops - they catch a ride on a hand-pumped railway that is being operated by a blind prophet, who tells them that they will not find the treasure they seek. The prophet character in the Odyssey was Teiresias, whom Odysseus consulted in the underworld when he needed information on how to get home again - the movie theater scene as the trip through the Underworld. - Odysseus nearly drowned, but clings to a piece of wood. - Odysseus and Everett both reveal themselves by performing an act no one else could: Odysseus strings a special bow and fires it through seven rings; Everett sings "Man of Constant Sorrow" as only the leader of the Soggy Bottom Boys can. - "Pappy's" given name, Menelaus, is the same as the king who declared war on Troy in the first place. - the Latin equivalent of the Greek name Odysseus is Ulysses. - "Sing in me O Muse...”, the line at the beginning of the film, is the first line of the Odyssey. - the killing of the cattle of Helios by the "fools" in the Odyssey is mirrored by Baby Face Nelson shooting the cows. - every time Ulysses falls asleep something bad happens. - the song which plays throughout the movie is called "Man of Constant Sorrow", Odysseus means "man who is in constant pain and sorrow". - a man of constant sorrow is also a description of Odysseus. - Pappy's opposition for Governor's has the first name Homer. - when Ulysses first meets Big Dan in the restaurant there is a statue of Homer in the background. - There is a "Blind Bard" who pays the boys to "sing into his can". Homer was often (and probably erroneously) thought to be a blind bard who told his stories verbally to his students.
  
  
• Big Dan Teague (John Goodman) sniffs out Everett's (George Clooney) Dapper Dan hair gel and that is how he recognizes that he is in disguise as the KKK character during the lynching scene. In the Coen Brothers' earlier movie, Raising Arizona (1987), Leonard Smalls ('Randall 'Tex' Cobb' ) smells out Gale's (Goodman again) hair gel and that leads to him tracking down H.I. (Nicolas Cage).
  
  
• The bluegrass trio, The Peasall Sisters, provided the singing voices for George Clooney's daughters, the Wharvey Girls, but didn't appear in the film. They were told they didn't look pitiful enough to get the part (according to their documentary, The Peasall Sisters: Family Harmony (2005) (V)).
  
  
• Although Homer is given a co-writing credit on the film, the Coen Brothers claim never to have read The Odyssey and are familiar with it only through cultural osmosis and film adaptations.
  
  
• The character of Sheriff Cooley fits Tommy Johnson's description of the Devil exactly: "He's white, as white as you folks, with empty eyes and a big hollow voice. He likes to travel around with a mean old hound."
  
  
• The character of Pappy O'Daniel is based on W. Lee (Pappy) O'Daniel who served as Governor of Texas (not Mississippi) from 1938-1942 and later as U.S. Senator. He was a flour baron with a radio show and sang with the Light Crust Doughboys. He was famous for refusing to vote in protest of the poll tax.
  
  
• Stephen Root, who plays the radio station owner, also played a radio station owner in the TV show "NewsRadio" (1995).
  
  
• George Nelson (played by Michael Badalucco) hates cows - to the point of blasting them with gunfire. In the movie Mac (1992), also featuring John Turturro and Badalucco, Badalucco's character loves cows - he even hugs one around the neck.
  
  
• Many of the actors in this film who were in previous Coen brothers films have moments reminiscent of their earlier performances. Examples: John Turturro begging for his life in a forest (like in Miller's Crossing (1990)); John Goodman as an evil salesman (like in Barton Fink (1991)); Charles Durning lecturing his employees (like in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)); Michael Badalucco as a gangster bank robber (he drove the car in Miller's Crossing (1990)); and Holly Hunter as a now overly fertile mother of seven (she was infertile in Raising Arizona (1987)).
  
  
• The historical Baby Face Nelson was a gangster named Lester M. Gillis (a.k.a. George Nelson, "Big George" Nelson, Lester Giles, Alex Gillis, etc.) who was known for his hot temper and itchy trigger finger. He was killed in Barrington, Illinois, in November of 1934 - three years before the setting of the film.
  
  
• The THREE gravediggers were from the gospel group The Fairfield Four. However, the FOUR in the name doesn't refer to the number of members, but to the number of vocal parts in the song (Alto, Tenor, Bass etc).
  
  
• The film soundtrack's official website ran a trivia contest to promote the film, giving winners canisters of Dapper Dan pomade.
  
  
• Everett's Mississippi correctional identification number is 9958-7715.
  
  
• Much like the KKK scene, Odysseus and his men hide from the Cyclops by dressing as sheep.
  
  
• The film's soundtrack became an unlikely blockbuster, even surpassing the success of the film. By early 2001, it had sold five million copies, spawned a documentary film, three follow-up albums ("O Sister" and "O Sister 2"), two concert tours, and won Country Music Awards for Album of the Year and Single of the Year (for "Man of Constant Sorrow"). It also won five Grammys, including Album of the Year, and hit #1 on the Billboard album charts the week of March 15, 2002, 63 weeks after its release and over a year after the release of the film.
  
  
• In the Odyssey, Ulysses angers the god Poseidon with pride, and is thus sent on his journey. His travels come to an end when he shows humility. Everett similarly scoffs at the baptisms of Pete and Delmar, and soon finds many obstacles in his path homeward. His trek also ends when he humbles himself. Not ironically, water is involved at both points - the baptisms and the flooding - since Poseidon was the god of the waters.
  
  
• In addition to the KKK scene, there is another overt homage to The Wizard of Oz (1939). Governor Pappy O'Daniel's pardon speech is reminiscent of the Wizard's farewell speech to Oz. The travelers' long winding journey has come to an end. The wise, portly ruler of the land decrees in front of a large audience that the travelers will help rule the land going forward.
  
  
• The whole concept is loosely based on author Howard Waldrop's novella, "A Dozen Tough Jobs", which recounts the labors of Hercules in a similar Mississippi setting, albeit ten years earlier. The Coen brothers tip their hat in Waldrop's direction through the name of Penny's suitor, "Waldrip".
  
  
• Another possible link comes from the William Faulkner short novel, "Old Man". In it a convict survives an Odyssey like adventure. The "tall convict" in the story is carried away on the flooding Mississippi of 1927 and struggles to return home. At the very end of the story he remembers the only sweetheart he had before being incarcerated and how she stopped visiting him in prison or returning his letters until finally sending him a postcard. "It was a postcard, a colored lithograph of a Birmingham hotel, a childish X inked heavily across one window, the heavy writing on the reverse slanted and primer-like too: This is where were honnymonning at. Your friend (Mrs) Vernon Waldrip."
  
  
• The prisoner's musical chant from the beginning of the movie (and soundtrack) was actually an old recording of a chain-gang.
  
  
• George Clooney practiced his singing for weeks, but in the end his singing voice was dubbed.
  
  
• The character of Tommy Johnson is based on famed blues guitarist of the same name who, according to folk legend, sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads in exchange for his prodigious talent. Robert Johnson, another bluesman and a contemporary of Tommy's (but no relation), borrowed the legend and wrote a song about it (and so the soul-selling legend was subsequently, wrongly, attributed to Robert Johnson).
  
  
• The woman who asks the Woolworth's clerk about the Soggy Bottom Boys is Gillian Welch, one of the artists on the film's soundtrack.
  
  
• The song ("I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow") recorded by the Soggy Bottom Boys, contains the line "I bid farewell to ol' Kentucky". George Clooney was born in Lexington, Kentucky.
  
  
• There is a bust of Homer in the restaurant behind Pappy O'Daniel.
  
  
• George Clooney had a relative in Kentucky (his native state) record himself reading the script, so that Clooney could work on his accent. When Clooney received the recording, he discovered that his relative had in fact removed all of the curse words and replaced them with something else.
  
  
• Sheriff Cooley is never referred to by name in the movie.
  
  
• The song "Man of Constant Sorrow" was first published in 1913 by the blind Richard Burnett. The song has since been recorded by 'the Stanley Brothers', Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia and others.
  
  
• At the end, when Everett says "Finding one little ring, in the middle of all that water, is one hell of a heroic task" is a reference to the legend of Theseus who had to find a golden ring at the bottom of the ocean to prove he was the son of Poseidon.
  
  

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