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There Will Be Blood (2007)
There Will Be Blood is a 2007 American epic period drama film co-produced, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, loosely based on the 1927 novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O'Connor, Ciarán Hinds, and Dillon Freasier. The film follows silver miner-turned-oilman Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) as he embarks on a ruthless quest for wealth during the Californian oil boom…
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson · Cut by Dylan Tichenor · Music by Jonny Greenwood · Ratio 2.39:1 · 158 min
How it was made
- Two weeks into the three-month shoot on a Marfa, Texas ranch, Anderson replaced Kel O'Neill as Eli Sunday with Paul Dano, who had only been cast as the smaller role of Paul Sunday; Dano had four days to prepare before the previous two weeks of Sunday-Plainview scenes were reshot with him instead.
- The film was shot on Panavision XL 35mm cameras with Panavision C series and high-speed anamorphic lenses, largely in sequence with most sets built on the Marfa ranch.
- The mansion's basement bowling-alley scenes were filmed in the real two-lane alley at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, once the actual home of oilman Edward Doheny Jr.; the space was so narrow that only five or six crew could fit behind the camera alongside the two boy actors.
- Jonny Greenwood, hired after Anderson heard his orchestral piece Popcorn Superhet Receiver, recorded roughly two hours of score at Abbey Road Studios using traditional orchestral instruments deliberately played to sound unsettling despite being old, familiar sounds.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Paul Thomas Anderson
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