Hillcoat has often worked with Nick Cave, the band Depeche Mode, and actor Guy Pearce. The Road, his adaptation of the novel by Cormac McCarthy, premiered at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival, and was released in the U.S. in November 2009. His 2012 film, Lawless, competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Hillcoat's film, Triple 9 was released in 2016. In 2017, he directed "Crocodile", an episode of the anthology series Black Mirror.