FILM · 2017 · UK
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Directed by
- Martin McDonagh
- Runtime
- 115 min
- Studio
- Blueprint Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Film4 Productions
91 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law…
91 Interesting Facts About Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Interesting Facts (19)
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Production staff invited local residents to watch the exterior scenes shot in public places, provided they were not disruptive. On each shooting day, crowds usually numbering more than a hundred people would gather to watch the proceedings. During breaks in filming, the actors and actresses would approach the crowd, sign autographs and take photos.
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In a rare instance, the Google Street View van was traveling through Sylva, North Carolina, in May 2016 while pre-shooting was underway. On Google Street View (linked in the External Sites section on ), there is abundant evidence of the crew, including set dressing, Second Assistant Directors, grips and businesses operating on the south side of Main Street. Sylva's used furniture store was dressed as the Ebbing Police Station after the fire. The dressing crew can be seen boarding plywood over the burned building.
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The bright red background of the three billboards is a color repeated throughout the film. It appears in clothing such as Jerome's and Mildred's tops, in the lighting on the street and in the bar, and in props including Mildred's swings, Dixon's phone, Dixon's headphones, and the restaurant tablecloth and picture frames, to name a few. In advertising, the billboards' core function, color repetition is used to keep a brand or product at the forefront of the consumer's mind. Similarly, Mildred is trying to keep her daughter's case at the forefront of the local police investigation. As a result, Mildred's message is constantly reminded to both the characters and the audience.
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Over the course of the film, two rapes/murders are revealed, a man is beaten and thrown from a second-floor window, a police station is burned down, a police officer is badly burned, a store owner is threatened and his goods are smashed, the billboards are set on fire, and two students on campus are attacked by a parent — and no arrests have been made, apparently even though most of the perpetrators are known, no one has even considered making an arrest. The film's only arrest is Denise's, for possession of two joints.
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Production Story (13)
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The basis of this story was taken from real events in Vidor, Texas, just outside Beaumont, Texas. The police ignored both the facts and the parents of a poor girl who was murdered in 1991 by a town hero said to be from an old mercenary family. Because the police did nothing, the billboards on Interstate 10 are still up.
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In the film, events such as two rapes/murders, a man being beaten and thrown from a second floor, the burning of a police station, a police officer being severely burned, a shop owner being threatened, the burning of the billboards and an attack on two students on campus take place; yet no arrests are made. The only arrest is Denise being taken into custody for possession of two joints.
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Behind the Scenes (11)
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Many of the locations used for filming were businesses that were adapted or given new facades for use during the shoot. Most notably, the Ebbing Police Department building was a consignment furniture store. The building was rented, the crews rearranged the interior and exterior, and even special-effects scenes involving pyrotechnics were filmed there. The building was later restored to its original state and returned to the business owners.
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A Google Street View vehicle passed through Sylva in May 2016 during principal photography. The images show set dressing, assistant directors, lighting technicians and the property team working south of Main Street, as well as the crew placing plywood over the burned building of the second-hand furniture store that was turned into the police station after the fire.
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Several locations used in the shoot were created by temporarily repurposing businesses. The most notable was the consignment furniture store used as the Ebbing Police Department building. The building was rented, its interior and exterior were redesigned, and special-effects scenes involving pyrotechnics were even shot there. It was then restored to its original state and returned to its owners.
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Characters & Cast (40)
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Frances McDormand hesitated to take on the role of Mildred when it was offered to her, but was eventually persuaded by her husband, Joel Coen. She said: "Because I was fifty-eight when he gave it to me. I was worried that women in this socioeconomic stratum don't wait until they're thirty-eight to have their first child. So we went back and forth and discussed it for a long time, and finally my husband said, 'Just shut up and do it.'".
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Sam Rockwell's accent research was quite extensive. Dialect coach Elizabeth Himelstein watched an episode of Cops from Springfield, Missouri, and tweeted the police department to request an interview with the Chief of Police. Soon afterward, Rockwell and Himelstein spoke with the officer over Skype. The officer came up with the word 'clank' for jail; Rockwell took it to director Martin McDonagh and it was added to the script. The officer also recorded all of Rockwell's lines, and Rockwell studied those recordings.
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The film Dixon watches with his mother and Donald Sutherland and the 'dead girl' is Nicolas Roeg's 1973 film 'Don't Look Now'. This film is also alluded to in McDonagh's 'In Bruges' (2008). Frances McDormand's character resembles Sutherland's character, who is driven by the guilt and grief of losing his daughter.
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Although the film seems to explore the idea of anti-karma, what is actually accurately represented is the principle of 'cause and effect'. Mildred uses the billboards to blame Willoughby for not finding her daughter's killer; Willoughby pays an extra month's rent to keep the billboards up. Dixon throws Welby down from the second floor; when he apologizes at the hospital, Welby is angry with him but in the end leaves him a glass of juice. Mildred sets the police station on fire while Dixon is inside; before Dixon leaves, he rescues Mildred's daughter's file and is burned in the fire; when Mildred says she started the fire, Dixon turns it into a joke. We learn that Mildred's ex-husband Charlie is the one who burned the billboards while drunk. When her date is ruined, she takes the remaining bottle of wine, goes to Charlie's table, tells his new girlfriend to take good care of him, and leaves the bottle behind.
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There are many references to 'Don't Look Now' (1973) in the film. It is not only that both films are about parents mourning a daughter's death; the 'dead girl' film Dixon's mother watches on television is 'Don't Look Now', and brief notes from Pino Donaggio's music can be heard. Red is the dominant color in both films; the billboards are bright red, and the agency employee is called 'Red'. In both films there is a dwarf, a useless priest, desperate police officers, a bad fall, a large knife, children playing alone by the water, and a child's toy bobbing in the water.
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The bright red background on the three billboards is a recurring color throughout the film. It appears in many places, such as Jerome's and Mildred's tops, the lighting on the street and in the bar, Mildred's swing, Dixon's phone, his headphones, the restaurant tablecloth and the frames. In advertising, color repetition, the primary function of billboards, is used to keep a brand or product at the forefront of the consumer's mind. Similarly, Mildred tries to keep her daughter's case at the forefront of the local police investigation. As a result, both the characters and the audience are constantly reminded of Mildred's message.
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Hedges and Dev Patel are the first men born in the 1990s to receive an Oscar nomination in an acting category (both were nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 2016 films, Hedges for Manchester by the Sea (2016) and Patel for Lion (2016)). Keisha Castle-Hughes was the first person in a decade to be nominated in an acting category at the Oscars (she received a Best Actress nomination for Whale Rider (2002) in the 2003 film year). Timothée Chalamet became the first person in that decade to be nominated for Best Actor, for Call Me by Your Name (2017).
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He has a family background in both the arts and religion. Alongside his artist parents, his maternal grandfather, John DeWitt Titman, Jr., was a vice president at HBO New York, and his maternal grandmother, Narcissa, is a theater director, lecturer and choir director. His paternal grandfather, Reverend Robert Boyden Hedges, was an Episcopal priest, and his maternal great-grandfather, Reverend Dr. V. Carney Hargroves, was president of the Baptist World Alliance.
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Easter Eggs & References (2)
Career & Awards (6)
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The film screened in the main competition section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival and premiered on September 4, 2017. It also screened at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the top prize, the People's Choice Award. The film was also shown at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival.
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