Be There or Be Square
Dillon Freasier (who plays H.W. Plainview, the son of the character played by Sir Daniel Day-Lewis) was not an actor; he was an elementary student near the film's West Texas shooting location. On the radio program "Fresh Air with Terry Gross," Paul Thomas Anderson told Gross that when the production was trying to convince Dillon's mother to allow Dillon to be in the movie, his mother wanted to figure out who Day-Lewis was, so she rented a copy of Gangs of New York (2002) (in which Day-Lewis plays a murderous gang leader nicknamed "The Butcher"). She panicked at the idea of her son spending time with the man she saw in that movie, so the 'There Will Be Blood' casting department rushed to her a copy of , in which Day-Lewis plays a civilized and gentle man.,When Eli Sunday lists the towns he will be visiting on his mission, he includes Taft, which would have been named Moron until the 1920s.,Eli Sunday: Why are you talking about Paul?
Daniel Plainview: I did what your brother couldn't.
Eli Sunday: Don't say this to me.
Daniel Plainview: I broke you and I beat you. It was Paul who told me about you. He's the prophet. He's the smart one. He knew what was there and he found me to take it out of the ground, and you know what the funny thing is? Listen... listen... listen... I paid him ten thousand dollars, cash in hand, just like that. He has his own company now. A prosperous little business. Three wells producing. Five thousand dollars a week.,There are no opening credits, except for the title.,Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Best of 2007 (2007),Popcorn Superhet Receiver
Composed by Jonny Greenwood
Performed by BBC Concert Orchestra (as The BBC Concert Orchestra)
Conducted by Robert Ziegler,Industrialism and Capitalism can be a Dirty, Ugly Thing just like Sucking Oil from the Earth. Like a Vampire the Insatiable Oil Tycoons have not a Scintilla of Conscience about Humanity at the Price of Their Grandeur and Survival as Larger than Life Demi-Gods.

This is an Ugly Film with a Lead Character that Exudes Ugliness. There is a Human Being with a Soul there in Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) that can be Witnessed on Occasion with His Infant Son and even up to and Including the Pivotal Tragedy of a Rig Accident.

After that though, He is Completely Corrupted by Greed and Steroidal Ambition. He is now as Handicapped as His Son. The Film isn't any Fun and it is a Hard and Filthy Story about a Hard and Filthy Industrialist. An Almost Demonic Persona that Thinks He is Owed all He can Get because He gets His Hands Dirty.

It is a Mesmerizing, Haunting Movie that is a Reflection of a Time when Simple Folks, like Sheep Herders and Ranchers are Easily Hoodwinked by Smooth Talking Money Men and Equally Silver Tongued Evangelist. It's the Second Birth of the Nation, the Beginning of the Twentieth Century.

There are No Heroes Here and no one to Root for, it just Holds up a Soiled Mirror to Our Past as it Shines a Light on Our Present. Like the Blood of Our Veins, Oil is Still the Life of Our Nation. Director Paul Thomas Anderson Hardly Manages to Hide the Fact that this Commodity, in 2007, is Still a Source for much of Today's Suffering. It is not a Pretty Picture and Neither is This.,