Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Daniel Day-Lewis | ... | Daniel Plainview | |
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Martin Stringer | ... | Silver Assay Worker |
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Matthew Braden Stringer | ... | Silver Assay Worker |
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Jacob Stringer | ... | Silver Assay Worker |
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Joseph Mussey | ... | Silver Assay Worker |
Barry Del Sherman | ... | H.B. Ailman | |
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Harrison Taylor | ... | Baby HW |
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Stockton Taylor | ... | Baby HW |
Paul F. Tompkins | ... | Prescott | |
Dillon Freasier | ... | HW | |
Kevin Breznahan | ... | Signal Hill Man | |
Jim Meskimen | ... | Signal Hill Married Man | |
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Erica Sullivan | ... | Signal Hill Woman |
Randall Carver | ... | Mr. Bankside | |
Coco Leigh | ... | Mrs. Bankside |
The intersecting life stories of Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday in early twentieth century California is presented. Miner turn oilman Daniel Plainview is a driven man who will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. He works hard but he also takes advantage of those around him at their expense if need be. His business partner is his son H.W., who in reality he "acquired" when H.W.'s biological single father, who worked on one of Daniel's rigs, got killed 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, the 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 ... Written by Huggo
PT Anderson delivers perhaps his best work with "There Will Be Blood". Unlike "Magnolia", the film's daunting runtime is not very daunting whilst watching it. All acting in the film was solid, even the work of the child actors. Daniel Day-Lewis in particular delivered a truly phenomenal performance, capturing the power of greed, fear, insanity, and comedy simultaneously, at many points throughout the film. At no point does the time period distract from the power of the film. Sometimes period pieces cannot be appreciated because they delve too deep into historical details -- turning the experience into more of a documentary than a narrative set in the past. This is not the case for "There Will Be Blood", as human interactions are the focus of the film. Johnny Greenwood's chilling score is very strong, benefiting from the elegant minimalism that he show's in the band Radiohead. The cinematography is also spectacular. Robert Elswit beautifully captures the essence of the environment and the tension amongst the characters. All in all, this is truly a perfectly crafted film.