20 Things You Didn't Know About O Brother, Where Art Thou?
18. Tim Blake Nelson Thought He Was Given The Script As An Expert In Classical Greek, Not An Actor
The Coens weren't the only people working on this Odyssey adaptation not to have read their Homer. In fact, just about the only person who was familiar with the original was actor Tim Blake Nelson.
Despite playing Everett's dumb as a bag of hammers accomplice Delmar on screen, in reality Nelson has a classics degree from the prestigious Brown University. In fact, when approached with the O Brother, Where Art Thou? script he thought that the Coens were looking to him for his expertise as a classicist, not as a potential actor for a role that had been linked with Danny De Vito.
Despite establishing a reputation as a character actor in the likes of The Thin Red Line and Donnie Brasco, Joel Coen admitted that he had never actually seen any of Nelson's movies. He only knew Nelson as an actor because they lived next door to each other.
You can see why Nelson might think that the Coens just wanted some script notes, then, but Joel was canny enough to spot a gift for dimwitted slapstick in his highly educated neighbour.
Nelson turned out to be a man of many talents. The only member of the lead cast to do his own singing in the film, he reunited with the Coens to play the titular singing cowboy in their latest, The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs.