<P> This was the fourth film of the brothers in which John Turturro has starred . Other actors in O Brother, Where Art Thou? who had worked previously with the Coens include John Goodman (three films), Holly Hunter (two), Michael Badalucco and Charles Durning (one film each). </P> <P> The Coens used digital color correction to give the film a sepia - tinted look . Joel stated this was because the actual set was "greener than Ireland ." Cinematographer Roger Deakins stated, "Ethan and Joel favored a dry, dusty Delta look with golden sunsets . They wanted it to look like an old hand - tinted picture, with the intensity of colors dictated by the scene and natural skin tones that were all shades of the rainbow ." Initially the crew tried to perform the color correction using a physical process, however after several tries with various chemical processes proved unsatisfactory, it became necessary to perform the process digitally . </P> <P> This was the fifth film collaboration between the Coen Brothers and Deakins, and it was slated to be shot in Mississippi at a time of year when the foliage, grass, trees, and bushes would be a lush green . It was filmed near locations in Canton, Mississippi and Florence, South Carolina in the summer of 1999 . After shooting tests, including film bipack and bleach bypass techniques, Deakins suggested digital mastering be used . Deakins subsequently spent 11 weeks fine - tuning the look, mainly targeting the greens, making them a burnt yellow and desaturating the overall image in the digital files . This made it the first feature film to be entirely color corrected by digital means, narrowly beating Nick Park's Chicken Run . </P> <P> O Brother, Where Art Thou? was the first time a digital intermediate was used on the entirety of a first - run Hollywood film that otherwise had very few visual effects . The work was done in Los Angeles by Cinesite using a Spirit DataCine for scanning at 2K resolution, a Pandora MegaDef to adjust the color, and a Kodak Lightning II recorder to put out to film . </P>

Where was old brother where art thou filmed