Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Tim Blake Nelson, Willie Watson, Clancy Brown, Danny McCarthy, David Krumholtz, Thomas Wingate DIRECTOR: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen CINEMATOGRAPHY: Bruno Delbonnel MUSIC: Carter Burwell PRODUCTION: Mike Zoss Productions

Box Office Performance

Theatrical box office data is not publicly available for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018). This may indicate a limited release, direct-to-streaming, or a release predating modern box office tracking.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Production

Joel and Ethan Coen announced The Ballad of Buster Scruggs in January 2017 as a collaboration with Annapurna Television. In August 2017, Netflix announced it would stream the work worldwide.

The film was based on Western-themed short stories, some of which were written by the Coens over 20 to 25 years (accounts vary). Tim Blake Nelson was given the script for the eponymous story in 2002 and told that a second, "Meal Ticket", was in outline form, but did not hear until 2016 that the project would commence production. "All Gold Canyon" follows a Jack London story by the same name. "The Gal Who Got Rattled" was inspired by a story by Stewart Edward White, and is based in part on contemporaneous accounts, including those of heated arguments over pets. Some reports said the work would be a six-part television series, but the Coens intended the stories to be seen together, ordered them in the script they submitted to Annapurna, and shot the script as written.

Throughout 2017 and into 2018, Franco, Kazan, Daly, Watson, Ineson, Nelson, Root, Neeson, and Gleeson joined the cast.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was the Coens' first film to be shot digitally. The filmmakers saw the project, with its 800 visual effects and late magic hour shoots, as a good opportunity to experiment with the medium. Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel employed a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and used a 27mm lens for most shots. "The Gal Who Got Rattled" was shot on private land north of Mitchell in the Nebraska Panhandle, with a casting call for "ordinary" Nebraskans as extras. "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" and "Near Algodones" were shot on location in New Mexico; "The Mortal Remains" was shot entirely on a sound stage.

Joel Coen said the shoot was physically demanding, involving exterior shots with uncovered sets, "really brutal weather", and much travel over wide-ranging locations. "It wouldn't have hurt if we were younger", he added.

▸ Music & Score

The film uses music and song in every segment, sometimes as part of the action and sometimes as incidental music. * "Cool Water", by Bob Nolan, performed by Tim Blake Nelson * "Randall Collins", by Norman Blake * "Surly Joe the Gambler", based on "Little Joe the Wrangler" and performed by Nelson * "Carefree Drifter", by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch * "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings", by Rawlings and Welch, performed by Nelson and Willie Watson * "Weela Weela Walya", traditional, performed by Liam Neeson * "The Sash My Father Wore", traditional, performed by Neeson * "Under the Double Eagle", by Josef Franz Wagner * "Mother Machree", by Rida Johnson Young, Chauncey Olcott and Ernest Ball, performed by Tom Waits * "La Ricciola", traditional, arranged by Gabe Witcher * "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?", by C. W. Murphy (as Clarence W. Murphy) and Will Letters, performed by Jonjo O'Neill * "Campfire Fiddle", by Gabe Witcher * "The Unfortunate Lad", traditional, performed by Brendan Gleeson

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Awards Won: ★ National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Nominations: ○ Academy Award for Best Costume Design (91st Academy Awards)

! scope="row" | Venice Film Festival

! scope="row" | Hollywood Music in Media Awards

! scope="row" | Screen Actors Guild Awards

! scope="row" | British Academy Film Awards

! scope="row" rowspan="3"| Academy Awards

CRITICAL RECEPTION

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs avoids anthology pitfalls with a consistent collection tied together by the Coen brothers' signature blend of dark drama and black humor." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".