There will be blood - Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J O'Connor, Paul Thomas Anderson
Threat advisory: Guarded - General risk of entertaining activities
Movie propaganda
When ambition meets faith.
A sprawling epic of family, faith, power and oil, There will be blood is set on the incendiary frontier of California's turn-of-the-century petroleum boom. The story chronicles the life and times of one Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), who transforms himself from a down-and-out silver miner raising a son on his own into a self-made oil tycoon.
When Plainview gets a mysterious tip-off that there's a little town out West where an ocean of oil is oozing out of the ground, he heads with his son, HW (Dillon Freasier), to take their chances in dust-worn Little Boston. In this hard scrabble town, where the main excitement centres around the holy roller church of charismatic preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), Plainview and HW make their lucky strike. But even as the well raises all of their fortunes, nothing will remain the same as conflicts escalate and every human value - love, hope, community, belief, ambition and even the bond between father and son - is imperilled by corruption, deception and the flow of oil.
Theatrical propaganda posters
Target demographic movie keyword propaganda
- Film drama history USA oil petroleum Texas tea capitalism government bribery ranch
Persons of interest
- Daniel Day-Lewis .... Daniel Plainview
- Kevin J O'Connor .... Henry Brands
- Ciarán Hinds .... Fletcher Hamilton
- Dillon Freasier .... HW Plainview
- Barry Del Sherman .... HB Ailman
- Russell Harvard .... HW Plainview - Older
- Harrison Taylor .... Baby HW
- Stockton Taylor .... Baby HW
- Paul F Tompkins .... Prescott
- Randall Carver .... Mr Bankside
- Coco Leigh .... Mrs Bankside
- Paul Dano .... Paul Sunday/Eli Sunday
- Sydney McCallister .... Mary Sunday
- David Willis .... Abel Sunday
- Christine Olejniczak .... Mother Sunday
- Kellie Hill .... Ruth Sunday
- James Downey .... Al Rose
- Dan Swallow .... Gene Blaize
- Robert Arber .... Charlie Wrightsman
- David Williams .... Ben Blaut
- Irene G Hunter .... Mrs Hunter
- Hope Elizabeth Reeves .... Elizabeth
- David Warshofsky .... HM Tilford
- Tom Doyle .... JJ Carter
- Colton Woodward .... William Bandy
- John Burton .... LP Clair
- Hans Howes .... Bandy
- Colleen Foy .... Adult Mary Sunday
- Upton Sinclair .... Author: Oil!
- Paul Thomas Anderson .... Screenwriter
- Paul Thomas Anderson .... Director
Cinematic intelligence sources
- There will be blood official movie site
- There will be blood film production notes (.rtf)
- There will be blood QuickTime movie trailers
- Awards and film festivals:
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS - Oscars) 2008: Won: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Achievement in Cinematography (Robert Elswit); Nominated: Best Motion Picture of the Year (Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Lupi, JoAnne Sellar), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published (Paul Thomas Anderson), Best Achievement in Editing (Dylan Tichenor), Best Achievement in Art Direction (Jack Fisk, Jim Erickson), Best Achievement in Sound Editing (Matthew Wood), Best Achievement in Directing (Paul Thomas Anderson), Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Javier Bardem), Best Achievement in Directing (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)
- Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) 2008: Winner: Actor In A Leading Role - Drama (Daniel Day-Lewis); Nominated: Picture - Drama
- Screen Actors Guild Awards 2008: Won: Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis)
- Studios and distributors:
Intelligence analyst
Special Agent Matti
Theatrical report
You know, I just don't know what There will be blood is about. If it was a biography of Daniel Plainview I could understand someone wanting to make a film about him because he's involved in some interesting times and he's a real character but it's not a biography, it's a drama and this is not how you make dramas. Dramas have a purpose; even a bildungsroman (or perhaps that should be
"bildungsfilm") gets to a point where you understand it. In There will be blood you just have a misanthrope who struggles for a while and then gives up.
It's a well-photographed film (the desert is as dry and dusty as you could make it) and Daniel Day-Lewis gets to chew off some of the scenery but the soundtrack is overbearing and Paul Thomas Anderson makes the mistake of having the main character tell us the essence of his being. Characters are supposed to show us their essence, not come right out and say it. We're all grown ups, let us figure these things out for ourselves; don't ram them down our throats.
The drama, history movie There will be blood is directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J O'Connor.
Government security censorship classification
M (Moderate violence and themes)
Surveillance time
158 minutes (2:38 hours)
Not for public release in Australia before date
Film: 9 February 2008
Cinema surveillance images
