- The first Coen Brothers film not photographed by Roger Deakins since Miller's Crossing (1990). He was unavailable, having committed to shoot Revolutionary Road (2008).
- The opening film of the 2008 Venice Film Festival.
- The poster for the film within the film, "Coming Up Daisy", states it is based on a book by Cormac McCarthy (who really wrote the book "No Country For Old Men", which the Coens' previous film was based on), and that it was directed by Sam Raimi (a friend and collaborator of the Coens').
- The Coen brothers said they wrote the screenplay for this film while writing the screenplay for No Country for Old Men (2007). They would usually alternate every other day for each script.
- Director Trademark: [Joel Coen] [kubrick] The sound emitted by the homing scanner from Bowman's space pod in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is heard in the opening titles. Harry Pfarrer's house number is 114, a nod to Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
- The Coen Brothers wrote the character Osborne Cox with John Malkovich in mind. Brad Pitt's character was also written with the actor in mind, inspired by a commercial for which he suffered a similar haircut and dye job. Indeed, the Coen Brothers noted at a Q&A session at the Venice Film Festival that all the leading characters were written for all the leading actors, with the exception of Tilda Swinton.
- The film "Coming Up Daisy" was titled "Tell Me That Again!" in the script.
- The word "fuck" is uttered 60 times, including 6 times in the first 2 minutes.
- When Brad Pitt's character (Chad) first meets Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) he recommends himself as Mr. Black - the same name as Pitt's character from Meet Joe Black (1998).
>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<
Trivia items below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.
- SPOILER: The first murder is after exactly 60 minutes.
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