There Will Be Blood
Paul Dano celebrates his 36th birthday today, so There Will Be Blood is this week’s Classic Rewatch. Written and directed by modern cine-legend Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood stars PTA perennial favourite Daniel Day-Lewis (who won a Best Actor Academy Award for this role) as ruthless oilman Daniel Plainview and Paul Dano as twins Paul and Eli Sunday. Dano was originally tapped to just play Paul and was given the larger role of Eli with only four days to prepare after the original actor Kel O’Neill left the project. The film’s themes of greed, faith and religion are as nuanced as Day-Lewis’ dynamite performance.
But did you know…
1) According to Anderson, the famous line, “I drink your milkshake!” comes from a transcript he found of a 1920’s congressional hearing into an oil scandal (known as the “Teapot Dome” scandal) in which a US Senator Albert Fall was convicted of accepting oil drilling-related bribes allegedly said, “’Sir, if you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and my straw reaches across the room, I’ll end up drinking your milkshake.” Anderson stated, “I just took this insane concept and used it.”
2) During shooting in Marfa, Texas, while Anderson was rehearsing the pyrotechnical effects for the oil derrick fire scene, the Coen brothers were shooting No Country For Old Men a few miles away. The smoke caused their production to be halted for a day, as it filled the background of their shot. The films ended up competing at the 2008 Academy Awards, with No Country For Old Men taking home the Best Picture trophy.
3) Parts of the film were shot at the infamous Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. The 55-room residence was at one point the home of oil tycoon Edward L. Doheney, who was actually the man at the centre of the Teapot Dome scandal. The mansion has been featured on big and small screens for years, including in The Big Lebowski, The Social Network, and all three of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man movies.
The clip is a deleted scene in which Daniel Day-Lewis actually breaks characters and the pivotal “milkshake” showdown between Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday.
