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There Will Be Blood

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Epic films have large scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The term is slightly ambiguous, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply big-budget films. Like epics in the classical literary sense, it is often focused on a heroic character. An epic's ambitious nature helps to set it apart from other genres such as the period piece or adventure film .

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69-463: There Will Be Blood is a 2007 American epic period drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson , loosely based on the 1927 novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair . It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, a silver miner turned oilman on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Paul Dano , Kevin J. O'Connor , Ciarán Hinds , and Dillon Freasier co-star. The film

138-554: A Congressional investigation into the 1920s oil-related Teapot Dome scandal . Anderson said he was fascinated "to see that word [milkshake] among all this official testimony and terminology" to explain the complicated process of oil drainage. In 2013, an independent attempt to locate the statement in Fall's testimony proved unsuccessful—an article published in the Case Western Reserve Law Review suggested that

207-598: A consummate work of art, one that transcends the historically fraught context of its making, and its pleasures are unapologetically aesthetic." Esquire praised Day-Lewis' performance: "what's most fun, albeit in a frightening way, is watching this greedmeister become more and more unhinged as he locks horns with Eli Sunday ... both Anderson and Day-Lewis go for broke. But it's a pleasure to be reminded, if only once every four years, that subtlety can be overrated." Richard Schickel in Time praised There Will Be Blood as "one of

276-471: A deal with Union Oil to build a pipeline. However, Bandy's ranch remains an impediment. Daniel becomes suspicious of Henry after he fails to recognize a joke and confronts him one night at gunpoint. "Henry" confesses that he was a friend of the real Henry, who died of tuberculosis , and that he had impersonated Henry in the hope that Daniel could give him a job. An enraged Daniel murders him and buries his body. Daniel drinks and weeps. The next morning, Daniel

345-517: A family man. In 1911, Daniel is approached by Paul Sunday, a young man who tells him of an oil deposit in Little Boston. Daniel visits the Sundays' property in Little Boston and meets Paul's identical twin brother Eli, a preacher. Daniel attempts to purchase the farm from the Sundays at a bargain price under the ruse of using it to hunt quail, but his motives are questioned by Eli, who knows

414-426: A fan of Radiohead 's music and was impressed with Jonny Greenwood 's scoring of the film Bodysong . While writing the script for There Will Be Blood , Anderson heard Greenwood's orchestral piece "Popcorn Superhet Receiver", which prompted him to ask Greenwood to work with him. After initially agreeing to score the film, Greenwood had doubts and thought about backing out, but Anderson's reassurance and enthusiasm for

483-467: A genius of camera and lighting, made visual poetry out of an oil well consumed by flame. For the final word on Blood , I'll quote Plainview: "It was one goddamn hell of a show." Chicago Tribune and At the Movies critic Michael Phillips named There Will Be Blood the decade's best film. Phillips stated: This most eccentric and haunting of modern epics is driven by oilman Daniel Plainview, who, in

552-466: A historical or a mythical event and add an extravagant setting, lavish costumes, an expansive musical score , and an ensemble cast , which would make them extremely expensive to produce. The most common subjects of epic films are royalty and important figures from various periods in world history. The term "epic" originally came from the poetic genre exemplified by such works as the Epic of Gilgamesh and

621-435: A large mansion. H.W. asks his father to dissolve their partnership so that he can move to Mexico with Mary and start his own drilling company. Daniel angrily mocks H.W.'s deafness before revealing his true origins and disowning him as his son. H.W. finally leaves, saying he's glad he is not related to Daniel. Eli, now a radio preacher, visits a drunken Daniel in the bowling alley of his mansion. With Little Boston suffering in

690-593: A little insane in its aspirations." James Christopher, chief film critic for The Times , published a list in April 2008 of his top 100 films, placing There Will Be Blood in second place, behind only Casablanca . Some critics were positive toward the work but less laudatory, often criticizing its ending. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle , challenged the film's high praise by saying "there should be no need to pretend There Will Be Blood

759-572: A massive scale. Biographical films may be less lavish versions of this genre. They often have a Roadshow theatrical release and are often shot on 70 mm film . Many writers may refer to any film that is "long" (over two hours) as an epic, making the definition epic a matter of dispute, and raise questions as to whether it is a "genre" at all. As Roger Ebert put it, in his "Great Movies" article on Lawrence of Arabia : The word epic in recent years has become synonymous with big-budget B picture . What you realize watching Lawrence of Arabia

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828-451: A masterpiece, this sparse and sprawling epic about the underhanded 'heroes' of capitalism boasts incredible performances by leads Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano, and is director Paul Thomas Anderson's best work to date." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 93 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Andrew Sarris called the film "an impressive achievement in its confident expertness in rendering

897-549: A ranch in Marfa, Texas , and took three months. Other location shooting took place in Los Angeles. The film was shot using Panavision XL 35 mm cameras outfitted primarily with Panavision C series and high-speed anamorphic lenses. Anderson tried to shoot the script in sequence with most of the sets on the ranch. Two weeks in, Anderson replaced the actor playing Eli Sunday with Paul Dano , who had originally been cast only in

966-553: A school and the principal recommended Dillon Freasier . They did not have him read any scenes and instead talked to him, realizing that he was the perfect person for the role. To build his character, Day-Lewis started with the voice. Anderson sent him recordings from the late 19th century to 1927 and a copy of the 1948 film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , including documentaries on its director, John Huston , an important influence on Anderson's film. According to Anderson, he

1035-484: Is a great film, and a perfect one. But There Will Be Blood is not perfect, and in its imperfections (its unbending characters, its lack of women or any reflection of ordinary society, its ending, its relentlessness) we may see its reach exceeding its grasp." Carla Meyer of the Sacramento Bee , who gave the film the same star rating as Ebert, opined that the final confrontation between Daniel and Eli marked when

1104-448: Is a masterpiece just because Anderson sincerely tried to make it one" and noting that "the scenes between Day-Lewis and Dano ultimately degenerate into a ridiculous burlesque ". Roger Ebert assigned the film three and a half out of four stars and wrote, " There Will Be Blood is the kind of film that is easily called great. I am not sure of its greatness. It was filmed in the same area of Texas used by No Country for Old Men , and that

1173-491: Is a true meditation on America. The film drills down into the dark heart of capitalism, where domination, not gain, is the ultimate goal. In a career defined by transcendent performances, Daniel Day-Lewis creates a character so rich and so towering, that "Daniel Plainview" will haunt the history of film for generations to come. The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007. Review aggregator site Metacritic , when comparing over 40 'top ten of

1242-563: Is about the vanishing American frontier. The thrown-together buildings look scraggly and unkempt, the homesteaders are modest, stubborn, and reticent, but, in their undreamed-of future, Wal-Mart is on the way." Others have noted themes of faith, religion, and family. James Christopher of The Times viewed the film as "a biblical parable about America's failure to square religion and greed." After Eric Schlosser finished writing Fast Food Nation , many reporters noted similarities to Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle . Although he had not read

1311-539: Is awakened by Bandy, who knows of Daniel's crime and wants him to publicly repent in Eli's church in exchange for an easement to run his pipeline across the ranch. As part of his baptism , Eli humiliates Daniel and coerces him into confessing that he abandoned his child. Later, while the pipeline is being built, H.W. reunites with Daniel and Eli becomes a missionary. In 1927, H.W. marries Paul and Eli's sister Mary. Daniel, now extremely wealthy but an alcoholic , lives alone in

1380-485: Is that the word epic refers not to the cost or the elaborate production, but to the size of the ideas and vision. Werner Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God didn't cost as much as the catering in Pearl Harbor , but it is an epic, and Pearl Harbor is not. The epic is among the oldest of film genres, with one early notable example being Giovanni Pastrone 's Cabiria , a two-and-a-half hour silent film about

1449-609: The 51st Grammy Awards . It features classical music, such as the third movement ("Vivace Non Troppo") of Johannes Brahms 's Violin Concerto in D Major and Arvo Pärt 's " Fratres " for cello and piano. Greenwood's score was awarded the Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution (music) at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival in 2008. The first public screening of There Will Be Blood

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1518-528: The Great Depression , Eli asks Daniel to partner with the church in drilling Bandy's property. Daniel agrees on the condition that Eli denounce his faith. Once Eli acquiesces, Daniel says that he already drained the property of oil by capture and taunts Eli for his misfortune. He chases Eli around the alley and bludgeons him to death with a bowling pin. When his butler appears to ask about the commotion, Daniel announces, "I'm finished." Many have seen

1587-564: The Punic Wars , which laid the groundwork for the subsequent silent epics of D. W. Griffith . The genre reached a peak of popularity in the early 1960s, when Hollywood frequently collaborated with foreign film studios (such as Rome's Cinecittà ) to use relatively exotic locations in Spain, Morocco and elsewhere for the production of epic films such as El Cid (1961) or Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The genre soon spread to other regions of

1656-643: The "epic" film, encompassing such examples as Ben-Hur , Gone with the Wind and more recently, 300 and the Star Wars films [...] none of these comes from literary epics per se , and there is little that links them with one another. Among those who espouse film genre studies, epic is one of the most despised and ignored genres". Finally, although the American Movie Channel formally defines epic films as historical films, they nonetheless state

1725-484: The 'milk shake' is way over there, and your little child wants the milk shake, and they sit over here in their bedroom where they are feeling ill, and they just gobble it up from way down in the kitchen, where you don't even have to move the Mix Master that made the ice cream for them. You don't have to take it up to the bedroom. This describes the actual drilling that is taking place. According to Joanne Sellar, one of

1794-529: The 17th best arthouse film of all time, and in a separate 2019 ranking a panel of four Guardian journalists ranked it the best film of the 21st century. The film was on the American Film Institute 's 10 Movies of the Year; AFI's jury said: There Will Be Blood is bravura film-making by one of American film's modern masters. Paul Thomas Anderson's epic poem of savagery, optimism and obsession

1863-592: The Wind is the highest-grossing film ever, with two other romantic epics ( Titanic and Doctor Zhivago ) also featuring among the global top ten. So far the most Academy Awards ever won by a single film stands at eleven. This feat has only been achieved by three films: Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), all of which are above three hours long and considered epic films. The previous record holder

1932-489: The actual source of the paraphrased quote may instead have been remarks in 2003 by Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico during a debate over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge . In those remarks, Domenici stated: The oil is underground, and it is going to be drilled and come up. Here is a giant reservoir underground. Just like a curved straw, you put it underground and maneuver it, and

2001-557: The award for Best Cinematography . In 1898, Daniel Plainview finds silver while prospecting in New Mexico but breaks his leg. Dragging himself from the pit, he takes a sample to an assay office and receives a silver and gold claim . In 1902, he discovers oil in California . Following the death of a worker in an accident, Daniel adopts the man's orphaned son, H.W. The boy becomes his partner, allowing Daniel to present himself as

2070-532: The basis of their enormous scope and the sweeping panorama of their settings such as How the West Was Won or East of Eden that do not have the typical substance of classical epics but are directed in an epic style. When described as "epic" because of content, an epic movie is often set during a time of war or other societal crisis, while usually covering a longer span of time sometimes throughout entire generations coming and passing away, in terms of both

2139-598: The book and was unfamiliar with Sinclair's other works, comparisons between the two books prompted Schlosser to read Sinclair's works, including the novel Oil! Schlosser, who found the book to be exciting and thought it would make an excellent film, sought out the Sinclair estate and purchased the film rights. Schlosser intended to find a director who was as passionate about the book as he was but director Paul Thomas Anderson approached him first. Anderson had an existing screenplay about two fighting families. He struggled with

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2208-399: The book was a great stepping-stone. It was so cohesive, the way Upton Sinclair wrote about that period, and his experiences around the oil fields and these independent oilmen. That said, the book is so long that it's only the first couple hundred pages that we ended up using, because there is a certain point where he strays really far from what the original story is. We were really unfaithful to

2277-429: The book. That's not to say I didn't really like the book; I loved it. But there were so many other things floating around. And at a certain point, I became aware of the stuff he was basing it on. What he was writing about was the life of [oil barons] Edward Doheny and Harry Sinclair . So it was like having a really good collaborator, the book. Anderson, who had said that he would like to work with Daniel Day-Lewis, wrote

2346-420: The careful renovation of the basement's two-lane bowling alley. Anderson said it was "a particular situation, because it was so narrow that there could only be a very limited number of people at any given time, maybe five or six behind the camera and then the two boys." Day-Lewis later broke a rib in a fall during filming. Anderson dedicated the film to Robert Altman , who died during editing. Anderson had been

2415-502: The decade' lists from various notable publications, found There Will Be Blood to be the most mentioned, appearing on 46% of critics' lists and being ranked the decade's best film on five of them. In December 2009, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone chose the film as the #1 film of the decade, saying: Two years after first seeing There Will Be Blood , I am convinced that Paul Thomas Anderson's profound portrait of an American primitive—take that, Citizen Kane —deserves pride of place among

2484-420: The decade's finest. Daniel Day-Lewis gave the best and ballsiest performance of the past 10 years. As Daniel Plainview, a prospector who loots the land of its natural resources in silver and oil to fill his pockets and gargantuan ego, he showed us a man draining his humanity for power. And Anderson, having extended Plainview's rage from Earth to heaven in the form of a corrupt preacher (Paul Dano), managed to "drink

2553-566: The drilling infrastructure. When Eli publicly demands the money still owed to him, Daniel beats him. At the dinner table that night, Eli attacks and berates his father for having trusted Daniel. A man arrives at Daniel's doorstep claiming to be his half-brother, Henry. Later that night H.W. sets fire to their house, intending to kill Henry. Daniel sends H.W. to a school for the deaf in San Francisco . Standard Oil offers to buy out Daniel's local interests, but Daniel refuses and instead strikes

2622-449: The epic film may be combined with the genre of science-fiction and cite Star Wars as an example. Stylistically, films classed as epic usually employ spectacular settings and specially designed costumes, often accompanied by a sweeping musical score, and an ensemble cast of bankable stars . Epics are usually among the most expensive of films to produce. They often use on-location filming, authentic period costumes , and action scenes on

2691-426: The epic is often credited to their ability to appeal to a wide audience. Several of the highest-grossing films of all-time have been epics. James Cameron 's 1997 film Titanic , which is cited as helping to revive the genre, grossed $ 1.8 billion at cinemas worldwide to become the highest-grossing film—a record it held for twelve years. If inflation is taken into account, then the historical romantic epic Gone with

2760-402: The events depicted and the running time of the film. Such films usually have a historical setting, although speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy or science fiction ) settings have become common in recent decades. The central conflict of the film is usually seen as having far-reaching effects, often changing the course of history. The main characters' actions are often central to the resolution of

2829-482: The film as a commentary on the nature of capitalism and greed, and its inherent national presence in America. Daniel Plainview's "I have a competition in me" speech has been looked upon as important when analyzing the film from this angle. David Denby of The New Yorker described the film as being about "the driving force of capitalism as it both creates and destroys the future" and goes on to say that "this movie

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2898-519: The film convinced him to continue. Anderson gave Greenwood a copy of the film and three weeks later he came back with two hours of music recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. Concerning his approach to composing the soundtrack, Greenwood said to Entertainment Weekly : I think it was about not necessarily just making period music, which very traditionally you would do. But because they were traditional orchestral sounds, I suppose that's what we hoped

2967-482: The film's producers, the film was difficult to finance because "the studios didn't think it had the scope of a major picture". It took two years to acquire financing for the film. For the role of Plainview's "son", Anderson looked at people in Los Angeles and New York City , but he realized that they needed someone from Texas who knew how to shoot shotguns and "live in that world". The filmmakers asked around at

3036-503: The film, he reiterated that while he still did not consider There Will Be Blood to be a masterpiece, he wondered if its "style, an approach, an attitude... might become important in the future." Since 2008, the film has been included in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and every revised edition released afterwards. Total Film placed it at number three in their list of the 50 best movies of Total Film 's lifetime. In The Guardian , journalist Steve Rose ranked it

3105-407: The hands of actor Daniel Day-Lewis, becomes a Horatio Alger story gone horribly wrong. Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's camera is as crucial to the film's hypnotic pull as the performance at its center. For its evocation of the early 1900s, its relentless focus on one man's fascinating obsessions, and for its inspiring example of how to freely adapt a novel—plus, what I think is the performance of

3174-467: The land has oil. In exchange for the property, Eli demands $ 10,000 for his church. An agreement is made and Daniel acquires all the available land in and around the Sunday property, save for one holdout, William Bandy. After Daniel reneges on an agreement to let Eli bless the well before drilling begins, a series of misfortunes occur: an accident kills one worker and a gas blowout deafens H.W. and destroys

3243-426: The milkshake" of other risk-taking directors. If I had to stake the future of film in the next decade on one filmmaker, I'd go with PTA. Even more than Boogie Nights and Magnolia —his rebel cries from the 1990s— Blood let Anderson put technology at the service of character. The score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood was a sonic explosion that reinvented what film music could be. And the images captured by Robert Elswit,

3312-580: The most wholly original American movies ever made." Critic Tom Charity, writing about CNN 's ten-best films list, calls the film the only "flat-out masterpiece" of 2007. Schickel also named the film one of the Top 10 Movies of 2007, ranking it at #9, calling Daniel Day-Lewis' performance "astonishing", and calling the film "a mesmerizing meditation on the American spirit in all its maddening ambiguities: mean and noble, angry and secretive, hypocritical and more than

3381-579: The much larger role of Eli Sunday, but he researched the time period that the film is set in as well as evangelical preachers. The previous two weeks of scenes with Sunday and Plainview had to be re-shot with Dano instead of O'Neill. The interior mansion scenes were filmed at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills , the former real-life home of Edward Doheny Jr., a gift from his father, Edward Doheny . Scenes filmed at Greystone involved

3450-510: The much smaller role of Paul Sunday, the brother who tipped off Plainview about the oil on the Sunday ranch. A profile of Day-Lewis in The New York Times Magazine suggested that the original actor, Kel O'Neill , had been intimidated by Day-Lewis's intensity and habit of staying in character on and off the set. Anderson, Day-Lewis, and O'Neill all denied this claim, and Day-Lewis stated, "I absolutely don't believe that it

3519-466: The new century— There Will Be Blood stands alone. The more I see it, the sadder, and stranger, and more visually astounding it grows—and the more it seems to say about the best and worst in the American ethos of rugged individualism. Awfully good! Entertainment Weekly critic Lisa Schwarzbaum named There Will Be Blood the decade's best film as well. In her original review, Schwarzbaum stated: Epic film Epic historical films would usually take

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3588-493: The project was "the understanding that [Anderson] had already entered into that world, [he] wasn't observing it – [he'd] entered into it – and indeed [he'd] populated it with characters who [he] felt had lives of their own". Anderson said that the line in the final scene, "I drink your milkshake !", was paraphrased from a quote by former Secretary of the Interior and U.S. Senator from New Mexico , Albert Fall speaking before

3657-549: The rest of the world, with a worldwide total of $ 76.1 million, well above its $ 25 million budget; however, the prints and advertising cost for the film's United States release cost about $ 40 million. There Will Be Blood received acclaim for its cinematography, Anderson's direction and screenplay, score, and the performances of Day-Lewis and Dano. Day-Lewis won the Academy Award , BAFTA , Golden Globe , Screen Actors Guild , NYFCC and IFTA Best Leading Actor awards for

3726-609: The rest of the world, with a worldwide total of $ 76.1 million, well above its $ 25 million budget; however, the prints and advertising cost for the film's United States release cost about $ 40 million. The film was released on DVD on April 8, 2008. An HD DVD release was announced, but later canceled due to the discontinuation of the format. A Blu-ray edition was released on June 3, 2008. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , There Will Be Blood has an approval rating of 91% based on 245 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Widely touted as

3795-866: The role. It has been widely regarded by critics as one of the greatest films of the 21st century, and it appeared on many critics' "top ten" lists for 2007, including the American Film Institute , the National Society of Film Critics , the National Board of Review , and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association . At the 80th Academy Awards , the film was nominated for eight Oscars (tying with another Miramax/Paramount Vantage co-production No Country for Old Men ). The nominations included Best Picture , Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Anderson. Along with Day-Lewis' Oscar for Best Actor, Robert Elswit won

3864-422: The screenplay with Day-Lewis in mind and approached Day-Lewis when the script was nearly complete. Anderson had heard that Day-Lewis liked his earlier film Punch-Drunk Love , which gave him the confidence to hand Day-Lewis a copy of the incomplete script. According to Day-Lewis, being asked to do the film was enough to convince him. In an interview with The New York Observer , he elaborated that what drew him to

3933-530: The script and soon realized it was not working. Homesick while away in London , Anderson purchased a copy of Oil! , drawn to its cover illustration of a California oilfield. Inspired by the novel, Anderson contacted Schlosser and adapted the first 150 pages to a screenplay. Research trips to museums dedicated to early oilmen in Bakersfield assisted Anderson in the development of the screenplay. Anderson changed

4002-410: The simulated realities of a bygone time and place, largely with an inspired use of regional amateur actors and extras with all the right moves and sounds." In Premiere , Glenn Kenny praised Day-Lewis's performance: "Once his Plainview takes wing, the relentless focus of the performance makes the character unique." Manohla Dargis wrote, in her review for The New York Times , "the film is above all

4071-399: The societal conflict. In its classification of films by genre, the American Film Institute limits the genre to historical films such as Ben-Hur . However, film scholars such as Constantine Santas are willing to extend the label to science-fiction films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars . Lynn Ramey suggests that "Surely one of the hardest film genres to define is that of

4140-430: The title from Oil! to There Will Be Blood because he felt "there's not enough of the book to feel like it's a proper adaptation". He said of writing the screenplay: I can remember the way that my desk looked, with so many different scraps of paper and books about the oil industry in the early 20th century, mixed in with pieces of other scripts that I'd written. Everything was coming from so many different sources. But

4209-409: The work "stops being a masterpiece and becomes a really good movie. What was grand becomes petty, then overwrought." In 2014, Peter Walker of The Guardian likewise argued that the scene "might not be the very worst scene in the history of recent Oscar-garlanded cinema ... but it's perhaps the one most inflated with its own delusional self-importance." Several months after LaSalle's initial review of

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4278-551: The works of the Trojan War Cycle . In classical literature, epics are considered works focused on deeds or journeys of heroes upon which the fate of many people depends. Similarly, films described as "epic" typically take a historical character, or a mythic heroic figure. Common subjects of epics are royalty , gladiators , great military leaders, or leading personalities from various periods in world history. However, there are some films described as "epic" almost solely on

4347-627: The world, such as India where it's flourishing Bollywood industry produced the landmark Mughal-E Azam (1960), which is widely considered as one of the greatest films of all time and a milestone in Asian epics. This boom period of international co-productions is generally considered to have ended with Cleopatra (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). Nevertheless, films in this genre continued to appear, with one notable example being War and Peace , which

4416-451: Was a little unsettling, even though you know all the sounds you're hearing are coming from very old technology. You can just do things with the classical orchestra that do unsettle you, that are sort of slightly wrong, that have some kind of undercurrent that's slightly sinister. In December 2008, Greenwood's score was nominated for a Grammy in the category of "Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media" for

4485-479: Was because he was intimidated by me. I happen to believe that—and I hope I'm right." O'Neill ascribed his dismissal to a poor working relationship with Anderson and his diminished interest in acting. Anderson first saw Dano in The Ballad of Jack and Rose and thought that he would be perfect to play Paul Sunday, a role he originally envisioned to be a 12- or 13-year-old boy. Dano only had four days to prepare for

4554-513: Was inspired by the fact that Sierra Madre is "about greed and ambition and paranoia and looking at the worst parts of yourself." While writing the script, he would put the film on before he went to bed at night. To research for the role, Day-Lewis read letters from laborers and studied photographs from the time period. He also read up on oil tycoon Edward Doheny , upon whom Sinclair's book is loosely based. Principal photography began in June 2006 on

4623-579: Was on September 29, 2007, at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas . The film was released on December 26, 2007, in New York City and Los Angeles where it grossed US$ 190,739 on its opening weekend. The film then opened in 885 theaters in selected markets on January 25, 2008, grossing $ 4.8 million on its opening weekend. The film went on to make $ 40.2 million in North America and $ 35.9 million in

4692-557: Was produced by Ghoulardi Film Company and distributed by Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films . The first public screening of There Will Be Blood was on September 29, 2007, at Fantastic Fest in Austin , Texas. The film was released on December 26, 2007, in New York City and Los Angeles where it grossed US$ 190,739 on its opening weekend. The film then opened in 885 theaters in selected markets on January 25, 2008, grossing $ 4.8 million on its opening weekend. The film went on to make $ 40.2 million in North America and $ 35.9 million in

4761-448: Was released in the former Soviet Union during 1967–1968. Epic films continue to be produced, although since the development of CGI they typically use computer effects instead of an actual cast of thousands. Since the 1950s, such films have regularly been shot with a wide aspect ratio for a more immersive and panoramic theatrical experience. Epic films were recognized in a montage at the 2006 Academy Awards . The enduring popularity of

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