What do you get when the director of Hard Eight (or Sydney, as Anderson titled it), Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love adapts a novel by Upton Sinclair?
There Will Be Blood stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano (last seen as the angsty teenage son with a chip on his shoulder in Little Miss Sunshine). The film is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil and is a period piece taking place in the turn-of-the-century where a tycoon (Daniel Day-Lewis) strikes it rich after gaining oil rights to a family's ranch, turning the small town into a boomtown where a charismatic young preacher (Paul Dano) captivates churchgoers.
Paramount Vantage, Paramount's arthouse label who'll be releasing There Will Be Blood on November 27th in limited release (with expansion no doubt to follow) describes the film as "a story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century Texas prospector in the early days of the business."
It'll be very interesting to see this film. I'm a big fan of Paul Thomas Anderson. Upton Sinclair's writing of Oil was borne out of the Harding administration's oil scandals. I believe that although this film's setting is a century ago, its themes will resonate with all of us today, as oil now is as it was then - a precious natural resource turned into a product fought over by the wealthiest of the world.
It looks like I have some reading to do. The Coen Brothers' new movie No Country For Old Men will be released on November 9th by Paramount Vantage; it's based on the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name. I also plan to pick up Oil.
It's great to see that, despite us being in the middle of the mindless summer movie onslaught, though-provoking, intellectually-rewarding filmmaking is always there for those patient enough to look for and support it.
And as an added bonus, here's the trailer for The Coen Brothers' latest, No Country For Old Men.