10 hidden details you missed in o brother, where art thou?

The film is a hilarious and unique adventure that borrows from many inspirations to create a perfect comedy only the Coen Brothers could conceive of. The film forgoes the typical narration you might usually find in a Coen Brothers movie but does start with a quote that reads, " O Muse! Sing in me, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in the ways of contending, a wanderer, harried for years on end … ".

The quote is the opening line from Homer's Odyssey , the story of a warrior's long journey home. The Coen Brothers based this film on the storyline of that epic tale. Though, in typical Coen Brothers fashion, they admitted that neither of them has actually read the epic poem and just know it through pop culture. While Homer's Odyssey served as the basis for the overall story structure of the film, the title was taken from another source.

The film Sullivan's Travels follows a director who wants to make a movie that explores the suffering of real-life and attempts to live like the less-fortunate to gain experience. The Coen Brothers' film shares a few similarities with Sullivan's Travels, including a similar scene in which convicts are brought into a theater to watch a film. The film is filled with all kinds of brilliant music from different eras of America, which helps bring the film to life.

The film stars George Clooney,

The first song we hear over the opening credits is a chant from a chain gang as they work on the roads. Remarkably, the chant heard is an actual recording of a chain gang singing the song, "Po Lazarus" in Though the Coen Brothers might be having a little fun by saying the film is based on Homer's Odyssey , they do include a number of references to the original story.

Those who know the epic poem well will also likely see some characters they recognize. Ulysses Everett McGill obviously stands in for Odysseus, the hero who attempts to return to his wife who is being pursued by a suitor.