The Coens' 'No Country for Old Men'

Nov. 15, 2007 — -- "No Country for Old Men" is being hailed by critics as the best film ever crafted by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.

Based on Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name, the murderous thriller has star power that is already garnering some Oscar buzz.

Three of the film's stars — Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Kelly MacDonald — recently spoke with Rolling Stone's Peter Travers on ABC News NOW's "Popcorn."

Bardem portrays Anton Chigurh, a killer with a creepy haircut who attacks his victims with a weapon normally used to slaughter cattle.

"I'm the force of evil. I am the embodiment of violence itself," Bardem said of his role.

And the killer haircut?

"I learned two weeks ago that it was based on some photographs in a book that [co-star] Tommy Lee Jones brought about Mexican [turn-of-the-century prostitutes] and some customers were wearing that haircut, so they were making this plan behind my back," Bardem said. "I didn't know until I had the haircut already on my head."

Chigurh embarks on a murder spree after he is hired to go after Brolin's Llewlyn Moss, a west Texas hunter who stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than $2 million in cash.

"[He] decides to keep it and then runs into major obstacles," Brolin said.

Moss lives in a trailer park with his wife, played by MacDonald.

"They're just lovely and the reason [Llewlyn] does what he does with the money is for her, I think," she said.

"No Country for Old Men" is written and directed by the famed sibling team of Joel and Ethan Coen, a duo renowned for their dark humor and partnership.

The brothers, sometimes called the "two-headed director," wrote and directed the film together, which can seem a bit unusual for some actors.

"Before we started filming, that was my big question. 'Oh, it's going to be really strange working with two directors instead of one,'" MacDonald said. "To question it after that point, it doesn't occur to think that it's strange because there is nothing strange about it."

Please click here to read Peter Travers' Rolling Stone review of "No Country for Old Men."