There Will Be Blood 2008

Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson; loosely based upon the 1920s novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair.
Cast: Academy Award® winner Daniel Day-Lewis; Paul Dano, Ciaràn Hinds, Kevin J. O’Connor, Dillon Freasier,...

The story chronicles the rise of 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. Love, hope, community, belief, ambition and even the bond between father and son is imperiled by corruption, deception and the flow of oil.

Nominated for 8 Oscars (Best Movie, Best Direction, Best Actor on a Leading Role, Best Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Adapted Screenplay) Check out the Oscars live on 24th February 2008 www.oscars.com

Costume designer Mark Bridges (MAGNOLIA, BOOGIE NIGHTS) has worked four times previously with Anderson. This film took them both into new territory as this is their first film with a period setting. Bridges began thinking about the basic tenor and philosophy of the look while Paul Anderson was still writing the screenplay. “Paul called me up one day and said ‘I need to know what this movie’s gonna look like’ and that’s when we started to put together images from the period to tell the story visually,” Bridges recalls, “Then, things began to evolve and Daniel Day-Lewis came on board. Being able to visualize him in the role of Daniel Plainview put a whole other dimension onto it – and Daniel turned out to be the greatest collaborator a costume designer could have because he brought so much to the process. Yet he was also very open to suggestions.  We would sit and talk through the choices of suits and ties and how they would work dramatically. It was a really wonderful back-and-forth collaboration.” 

Details as seemingly simple as Plainview’s hat sparked major conversations. “We went through many hats to finally decide which one was strongest visually and which was the most like Daniel Plainview. We also talked at length about the shoulders of his suits and shape of his pant legs. I always felt that if I was helping Daniel Day-Lewis to create the character then I was doing my job. The challenge for both of us was showing the development of the guy, who he was and more so who he becomes between 1898 and 1927.” more film >>>

photo Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) with his son H.W. (Dillon Freasier). Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon
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