There Will Be Blood (2007)

A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.

Director:

Paul Thomas Anderson

Writers:

Paul Thomas Anderson (screenplay), Upton Sinclair (novel)

Stars:

Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds

Top Rated Movies #181 | Won 2 Oscars. Another 105 wins & 133 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daniel Day-Lewis	...	Daniel Plainview
Martin Stringer	...	Silver Assay Worker
Matthew Braden Stringer	...	Silver Assay Worker
Jacob Stringer	...	Silver Assay Worker
Joseph Mussey	...	Silver Assay Worker
Barry Del Sherman	...	H.B. Ailman
Harrison Taylor	...	Baby HW
Stockton Taylor	...	Baby HW
Paul F. Tompkins	...	Prescott
Dillon Freasier	...	HW
Kevin Breznahan	...	Signal Hill Man
Jim Meskimen	...	Signal Hill Married Man
Erica Sullivan	...	Signal Hill Woman
Randall Carver	...	Mr. Bankside
Coco Leigh	...	Mrs. Bankside

Storyline

The intersecting life stories of Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday in early twentieth century California presents miner-turned-oilman Daniel Plainview, a driven man who will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. He works hard but also takes advantage of those around him at their expense if need be. His business partner/son (H.W.) is, in reality, an "acquired" child whose true biological single-parent father (working on one of Daniel's rigs) died in a workplace accident. Daniel is deeply protective of H.W. if only for what H.W. brings to the partnership. Eli Sunday is one in a pair of twins whose family farm Daniel purchases for the major oil deposit located on it. Eli, a local preacher and a self-proclaimed faith healer, wants the money from the sale of the property to finance his own church. The lives of the two competitive men often clash as Daniel pumps oil off the property and tries to acquire all the surrounding land at bargain prices to be able to build a pipeline to the ...

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Plot Keywords:

oil | alcoholic | alcoholism | money | turn of the century | 

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Taglines:

There Will Be Greed. There Will Be Vengeance.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English American Sign Language

Release Date:

25 January 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Oil!

Filming Locations:

Shafter, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$302,845 (USA) (28 December 2007)

Gross:

$40,218,903 (USA) (25 April 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Vantage, Miramax, Ghoulardi Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

158 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Several characters seen or mentioned in 'There Will Be Blood' seem to have been based on historical figures. Though his name is never spoken during the film, Plainview's business partner H. B. Ailman shares the name of an actual prospector and oil man who was active during the turn of the century and associates with oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny, on whom Daniel Plainview seems to have been partly based. The two Standard Oil representatives "H. M. Tilford" and "J. J. Carter" who meet with Plainview are based on historical oil men: Henry Morgan Tilford was once vice-president of the Standard Oil Company during the turn of the century, while John Joyce Carter's Carter Oil Company was incorporated and subsidized by Standard Oil (New Jersey) in the 1890s. At one point in the film, the name "A. C. Maude" is stated as a property holder in Little Boston; the actual A. C. Maude was a prominent community member of Bakersfield, California during the late 1800s; Bakersfield is located in Kern County, where over 80% of California's oil wells are found. The name "Redlick" is also stated as a Little Boston property holder; Joseph Redlick was also a prominent community member of Bakersfield during the early 1900s.

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Goofs

When Daniel digs grave to bury Henry, water is seen in grave but soil which is removed is not wet.

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Quotes

Plainview: What's this? Why don't I own this? Why don't I own this?
Al Rose: That's the Bandy tract. He was the holdout, when we were doing the buying? He had hoped to speak with you. Can't you just build the pipeline around this tract?
Plainview: Can I build around fifty miles of Tehachapi Mountains? Don't be thick in front of me, Al.
Al Rose: I can go to him again...
Plainview: No, I'll go and talk to the man. I'll talk to him, show you how it's done.

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits, except for the title

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Connections

Featured in Loose Canon: Oscar Bait: A History (2016)

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Soundtracks

Smear
Composed by Jonny Greenwood
Performed by London Sinfonietta (as The London Sinfonietta)
Conducted by Martyn Brabbins
Ondes Martenot Solos by Valérie Hartmann-Claverie & Bruno Perrault
Recorded for Broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 25th June 2005
Licensed courtesy of BBC Worldwide

User Reviews

Stunning

This film raises the game for everyone out there. I have loved all of Paul Thomas Anderson's work, including his greatly underrated Punch-Drunk Love, but this is a huge leap from any of the previous movies into a realm, as others have said, inhabited by classics such as Treasure of the Sierra Madre - and then some. Every element of this film is astonishing, from the opening twenty minutes, which feature virtually no dialog, to Jonny Greenwood's score, which I have heard criticized as too imposing but which seems just about perfect to me (and brings to mind the non-Blue Danube elements of 2001 at its most experimental). Daniel Day-Lewis' performance is in a league of its own: his voice, his mannerisms, his physical movement, his stunted emotions, are flesh and blood, and hauntingly so, in a way that even Tommy Lee Jones in In The Valley of Elah (which I thought was a pretty staggering performance) can't quite attain. I will watch this film again and again simply to see something so raw and so moving and so gut-wrenching. This is why I love movies; this is what made me want to make movies when I was fourteen years old.