Anton Chigurh

Anton Chigurh (/ʃɪˈɡɜːr/ shih-GUR) is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel No Country for Old Men. In the 2007 film adaptation of the same name, he is portrayed by Javier Bardem.

Anton Chigurh
Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in the 2007 film adaptation of No Country for Old Men
Created by	Cormac McCarthy
Adapted by	Joel and Ethan Coen
Portrayed by	Javier Bardem
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Professional hitman
Weapon	Captive bolt pistol Remington Model 11-87

Bardem's performance as Chigurh was widely lauded by film critics—he won an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award for the role. Other accolades include Chigurh's presence on numerous Greatest Villain lists, most notably in Empire's list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time, in which he was ranked #44,^[1] as well as being named the most realistic film depiction of a psychopath by an independent group of psychologists in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.^[2][3]

Character overview

Chigurh is a man in around his 30s;^[4] a hitman devoid of conscience, remorse, and compassion. Whenever he is given a task, he will stop at no length to complete it, going as far as to murder anyone who gets in his way.^[5] Chigurh was described by cinema critics as a psychopath; researchers said that he lacks empathy, can't feel love, feels no shame or remorse and that he is a ruthless and determined killer. Psychiatrist Samuel Leistedt said that Bardem's performance was one of the most realistic depictions of a psychopath.^[6] Sometimes, Chigurh gives his victims an option to play coin toss with him: if they lose he will kill them and if they win he lets them go.^[7] For example, in one scene, Chigurh walks into a gas station after killing a policeman and plays the game with a store clerk, a scene described as terrifying and intense.^[8] Chigurh's weapon of choice is a captive bolt pistol, a device used to stun livestock. One scene shows him placing the device on his victim's forehead before killing him.^[9] Other weapons he uses to kill people are a silenced pistol and a silenced Remington shotgun. Chigurh only kills one person with the bolt pistol, a motorist he randomly met; the rest of the murders were committed using firearms. He primarily uses the device to destroy locks on doors.^[4][10]

In the original novel, Anton Chigurh's origins are completely unexplained.^[11] During the creation of the movie, the Coen Brothers struggled with his adaptation due to lack of information. The novel kept the descriptions of Chigurh intentionally vague; one of the few descriptions in the story said: "He was medium height. Medium build. Looked like he was in shape. In his mid-thirties, maybe. Dark hair. Dark brown, I think. I don't know". Other mentions say that he has the smell of "foreign cologne" with "a medicinal edge to it".^[12] The movie showed Chigurh having black eyes and bowl-cut haircut; he is seen as a physical manifestation of evil akin to Michael Myers.^[13][14] Chigurh is depicted in the movie as an antisocial person who doesn't care about human life at all and doesn't want any help from people. Javier Bardem, in an interview with NPR, described Chigurh as a "character that comes out of nowhere, goes back to nowhere" that acts like he is a "force of the nature". He said that he is a philosophical killer who thinks that every murder he commits is an inevitable fate.^[15][16] The movie adaptation of Chigurh differs from the original novel. In the novel, he is described as a sadistic and brutal psychopath who murders people for personal reasons. The movie shows him as an impassive psychopath who kills people without any thought or remorse. In the film, Chigurh is seemingly less cruel and takes no pleasure in killing people while he usually does in the novel.^[17]

Creation

Reportedly, the name "Anton Chigurh" was chosen by Cormac McCarthy because it "sounded cool".^[15] Chigurh is a recurrence of the "Unstoppable Evil" archetype frequently found in McCarthy's work. However, the Coen brothers wanted to avoid one-dimensionality, particularly as with a comparison to The Terminator. To avoid a sense of identification, the Coens sought to cast someone "who could have come from Mars". The brothers introduced the character at the beginning of the film in a manner similar to the opening of the 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth. Film critic David DuBos described Chigurh as a "modern equivalent of Death from Ingmar Bergman's 1957 film The Seventh Seal".^[18]

The Coen brothers got the idea for Chigurh's hairstyle from a book Tommy Lee Jones had. It featured a 1979 photo of a man sitting in the bar of a brothel with a very similar hairstyle and clothes similar to those worn by Chigurh in the film. Oscar-winning hairstylist Paul LeBlanc designed the hairdo. The Coens instructed LeBlanc to create a "strange and unsettling" hairstyle. LeBlanc based the style on the mop tops of the English warriors in the Crusades as well as the Mod haircuts of the 1960s. Bardem told LeBlanc each morning when he finished that the style helped him to get into character. Bardem supposedly joked that he was "not going to get laid for two months" because of his haircut. Bardem felt very upset by the haircut, and even fell into a depression. Fellow actors said that Bardem felt so ashamed of it that it was hard for him to leave his house.^[19][20]

During the creation of the movie, Bardem was not pleased with his role due to the excessive violence his character committed; reportedly, he was not sure of why Coen brothers picked him for the role. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said that he dislikes violence even in movies, adding that when the Coens called him and asked him to take part in the movie, he tried to decline their offer by saying: "Listen, I'm the wrong actor. I don't drive, I speak bad English, and I hate violence". They responded by saying: "Maybe that's why we called you".^[21][22] Despite the Coen brothers picking Bardem, they were concerned that his schedule would make it difficult for him to play the role, so they phoned Mark Strong, a British actor, and asked him if he was available to become a replacement for the role. Strong accepted the offer but Bardem managed to clear his schedule a few days later. The events caused a slight confusion in the coverage of the movie, some news outlets mistakenly reported that Mark Strong would officially play Chigurh.^[22]

Role in the plot

See also: No Country for Old Men (novel) § Plot

In 1980, Chigurh is hired to retrieve a satchel holding $2.4 million. After killing those who hire him he discovers that the money is in the possession of a local welder named Llewelyn Moss, who chanced upon the money while hunting.

Chigurh tracks Moss down to a motel using a receiver that connects to a transponder hidden in the satchel. Moss has hidden the money in a ventilation duct. In both the film and the novel, Chigurh steals a key from the presumably murdered hotel clerk (this murder is not made explicit either in the film or the novel). He then seeks Moss, listening at various doors before punching the lock out of one of Moss' rooms. Rather than finding Moss, he encounters and kills three heavily armed Mexicans.

Chigurh discovers that another bounty hunter, former colleague Carson Wells, has been hired to retrieve the money and eliminate him. Chigurh kills Wells. The latter had tried to broker a deal with Moss to give him protection in exchange for the money. Chigurh intercepts a phone call from Moss in Wells' hotel room and offers to spare Moss' wife should he agree to give up the money. Moss refuses and vows to track down and kill Chigurh. Mexican hitmen later kill Moss at a motel in El Paso. Unknown to the Mexicans, Moss had hidden the money in the vents again, which is retrieved by Chigurh.

Moss' widow finds Chigurh waiting for her after her mother's funeral. He listens to her pleas for mercy before asking her to bet her life on a coin toss. In the book, she calls heads; it comes up tails. In the film adaptation, she refuses to call the toss, saying the same words she says in the novel after losing the coin toss, "the coin didn't have no say. It was just you." The movie then cuts to a shot of Chigurh leaving the house and checking the soles of his boots for blood, implying that he has killed her; in the novel McCarthy writes "Then he shot her." While driving away from her house, Chigurh is badly injured in a car accident, sustaining a compound fracture of his left ulna and walking away with a limp. At the scene of the accident, before the authorities arrive, a teenager on a bicycle sees a wounded Chigurh and offers him his shirt. Chigurh uses it to bind up his wounds and as a sling for his now broken arm. Chigurh gives the teen a blood-soaked $100 bill as a bribe to not tell anyone he was there, then flees the scene before the ambulance arrives.

Reception

Critics of the movie compared Anton Chigurh to various characters, like the Terminator or the shark from Jaws.^[13] In 2007, Javier Bardem, who played Chigurh in the film was given an Academy Award for his performance.^[23][24] In 2012, UGO Networks ranked Chigurh as its list of top 11 "silver screen psychos", it said that he is "an assassin of little words" and a "man without a sense of humor". It described him as a ruthless killer whose victims only have chance to survive if they win a coin toss.^[25] Empire Magazine also ranked Chigurh #46 in their list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time, praising the look on his face when he strangles a cop with his own handcuffs, it said that the way he kills his victims is "supernatural" and that his bowl cut is "utterly terrifying".^[26] The Artifice compared Chigurh to Jesus Christ in 2014, saying that the two characters are incompatible but his actions in the movie have some similarities to Jesus's acts in the bible.^[27] In 2015, The New York Times compared Chigurh to Hanzee Dent, main character of Fargo TV series, played by Zahn McClarnon. The newspaper did an interview with him and asked him some questions about Chigurh.^[28]

In 2017, Special Broadcasting Service described the performance of Chigurh as "chilling" and explained his personality in detail.^[29] In 2018, Business Insider ranked Chigurh in its top 10 list of "most terrifying fictional serial killers in TV and movies" and paraphased a study that said that he is the most realistic psychopath.^[30] In 2019, Backstage Magazine described Chigurh as "unstoppable and unapologetic killer" and detailed his creation, specifically his clothing, haircut and accent.^[31] In 2023, Law & Liberty said that the audience sees Chigurh as the embodiment of evil and that there is a chance he could become an internet meme due to their interest in evil movie characters, like Freddy Kruger.^[32] In the same year, The Criterion Collection analysed Chigurh and said that he is one of the "all-time-great movie villains" who was "brilliantly" played.^[33] In 2025, Screen Rant placed Chigurh in its top 10 list of movies where "the villain wins in the end", describing how he was able to successfully kill his targets and retrieve the money, getting away with his crimes.^[34]

In popular culture

In February 2008, Saturday Night Live made a skit about Chigurh in its episode named There Will Be Blood, Fred Armisen played the role.^[35][36] In May 2009, a Chigurh-inspired character appeared in one of the episodes of The Simpsons.^[37] He was named "inspector" and was seen flipping coins in the episode, he also used air gun to clean Homer Simpson's parking space.^[38] In 2010, Chris Jericho, Canadian professional wrestler, said that he stopped his 2-year hiatus from wrestling after watching the movie and being "inspired" by Chigurh.^[39] In one of the episodes of South Park, named "Band in China", Winnie the Pooh is killed by Randy Marsh; the killing was identical to the scene of Chigurh strangling a police officer in the movie.^[40][41]

In 2019, Hong Kong-based artist Stephen Case drew caricature paintings from every movie made by Coen brothers. The paintings included Chigurh.^[42] A deepfake video of Chigurh was uploaded on YouTube in the same year. It altered his face to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger and also changed his accent.^[43] In 2020, comedian Kevin James made a parody video of the movie, where he pretended to talk with Chigurh during the coin toss scene.^[44][45] In 2024, JD Vance, vice-president of US, quoted one of Chigurh's lines in a post on X, namely the line Chigurh said when he killed Carson Wells in a hotel room.^[46] HuffPost said that that possibly, Vance quoted the line because he thinks Chigurh is a good guy, or to align himself more closely to Trump, who mentioned Hannibal Lecter, fictional serial killer, multiple times during his campaign.^[47]