There Will Be Blood - now with child/partner forum we call H.W.

[Satcho9]

The "Knocked Up or Superbad" question came first as a sort of ice breaker. Then Apatow led the questioning for quite a while, asking the standard stuff about "his process" that we have all heard before...but peppering jokes in here and there that was met with silence from DDL and pity laughs from PTA.

At one point, I don't recall the question, but Apatow posed a question to DDL who then chose to just sit and stare into the audience. PTA just looked at Apatow and shook his head as to say "drop it".

I thought it was a good line by Apatow when someone asked about how Paul Dano was a replacement for so and so...PTA was gracious, but it was an awkward subject to broach...so Apatow cuts in with the Back to the Future reference..."Hey, they did it on Back to the Future...Eric Stoltz wasn't working out so they went with Michael J. Fox....They had to do the same thing on this movie...the only bummer was they were replacing Eric Stoltz."

Another good moment, When Apatow asked PTA and DDL if he was doing better than David Ansen of Newsweek...whom he has beef with over his review of CABLE GUY for saying "..it didn't get one laugh.." saying he wanted to kick Ansen's ass.

Overall, Apatow did an okay job. Should've opened it up to Q&A sooner though.

[MacGuffin]

You forgot when Apatow asked PTA about how does a director get an actor of DDL's rank to work for him, then cracked a joke about having a script called My Left Nut.

[Stefen]

What was Apatow even doing there? Talk about a wrong side of the tracks meet-up. I haven't seen one that strange since Weird Al had Morrisey as his best man at his wedding. WTF?

[Fernando]

lol ^^^^

You forgot when Apatow asked PTA about how does a director get an actor of DDL's rank to work for him, then cracked a joke about having a script called My Left Nut.

hahaha, but really, how can you ask that? Besides everybody knows the answer of how to do that: the same way he got Cruise, the same way he got final cut on his last 4 films, the same way he got to meet Kubrick...you need to be Paul Thomas Anderson.

mac will be your only saving grace.

And he was, great post Mac  .

Is it possible CMBB will sit right next EWS? We'll see.

[Pozer]

firstly, to mac & friends - SO sorry i was not appart of the meet up.  i was in such a rush to get there, ended up going with a group of peeps and a pair of them were LAGGING, sat through horrid traffic - it was RIDICULUOUS and i was in a HORRID mood upon arrival.  we were some of the last to get in - did you notice us standing near maya WHO DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A SEAT?  we had to sit away from each other - was frustrated about all this.... 

anywayz, enough about pozer who had a great time in the end.  i thought judd was really funny and thought that was just daniel's style.  he was smiling most of the time - just keeping quiet on the responses to screwball questions or remarks is his thing.  full affect of the first question - "I know you don't really do interviews or really like these things, so my first question has got to be... do you prefer Knocked Up or Superbad?"  Silence from DDL (but smiling).  "I'll send ya the DVDs."  with answers, daniel & paul both seemed like they could go on an on about certain things and i would just listen and listen.  what was it daniel said exactly - something like,  "paul is trying to explain if i was playing the role of his girlfriend or the other around...?

great encounters:  paul introducing philip baker hall to daniel, judd introducing big superbad guy to paul and me introducing myself to daniel.  we all went for sushi afterwards.  sans me.  and prolly superbad guy.

seriously tho, daniel is genuine in person.  his grin is HUGE and i didn't want to trouble him for an autograph cuz it was enough to just meet him.  and after watching him and hearing the way he transforms himself and his voice in a movie, his appearance and thick british accent just cannot be so.  like when he replied with that grin, "thank you very much.  Nice to see you."

i then moved on to PTA with goose bumps from the d-man.  he noticed us and came over to say hello.  I told him "thanks for a great movie."  he's a very generous guy and said "thank YOU."   so i felt like troubling him - whipped out my ticket and asked for his autograph.  i had a pen i borrowed from one of my friends and he tried to sign it, but it would not work.  he moved to the ground to attempt to sign and the pen would JUST NOT WORK.  "oh sorry, man.  The pen isn't working."  Reaches into his pocket in attempt to find one of his own, but there wasn't one there and IIII AM FEELING LIKE AN ASS.  i go, "don't sweat it man, it's just cool to meet you."  You can tell that means a lot to him.  some chick gave him a pen and now I have a ticket with his scribbled attempts and autograph. 

overall, fantastic night, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE that movie (as did the other four i was with, only one being a pta fan) and got to meet two individuals who I have much admiration for. 

oh yeah, p, didnt ask about the daughter name thing but did ask this:

ask if it's cos of the bedbugs (that NY is getting snubbed).

his reply:  FUCK YOU N.Y.!

my crappy pix:

[MacGuffin]

seriously tho, daniel is genuine in person.  his grin is HUGE and i didn't want to trouble him for an autograph cuz it was enough to just meet him.  and after watching him and hearing the way he transforms himself and his voice in a movie, his appearance and thick british accent just cannot be so.  like when he replied with that grin, "thank you very much.  Nice to see you."

DDL looked very pleased to be asked for an autograph. When he was done signing, I held out my hand, said "Thank you," and he looked shocked, in a good way, that I was so grateful. He gave me a very strong, hearty handshake, and told me "Thank you very much" with a sort of a bow to it. 'Genuine' is the perfect word to describe him.

i then moved on to PTA with goose bumps from the d-man.  he noticed us and came over to say hello.  I told him "thanks for a great movie."  he's a very generous guy and said "thank YOU."   so i felt like troubling him - whipped out my ticket and asked for his autograph.  i had a pen i borrowed from one of my friends and he tried to sign it, but it would not work.  he moved to the ground to attempt to sign and the pen would JUST NOT WORK.  "oh sorry, man.  The pen isn't working."  Reaches into his pocket in attempt to find one of his own, but there wasn't one there and IIII AM FEELING LIKE AN ASS.  i go, "don't sweat it man, it's just cool to meet you."  You can tell that means a lot to him.  some chick gave him a pen and now I have a ticket with his scribbled attempts and autograph. 

We were right behind each other because I saw PTA struggling with that pen, and wanted to push through hand him my Sharpie so I could be next.

[Pozer]

haha!  oh man, that sucks!  you mean you were the one who approached right after i was done and said something about the movie being great as well?!  thought you would be somewhere around there.  i had to hurry up cuz everyone i was with was set to leave.  Mac & i were right next to each other and i blew it!  itd been so funny if i called you, and your phone started ringing right there. 

[MacGuffin]

Some more tidbits from the Q&A:

Apatow asked why it took so long to get the project filmed, was it money? PTA answered that no one wanted to make it. Apatow told him to name names. PTA kind of hesitated, laughed then said Universal didn't want to make it. Apatow said, "Fuck 'em. Fuck Universal."

Apatow asked if DDL would be willing to wait how ever long it took, to which he said that even if the project was dropped, the whole process of discussing the character and fleshing it out with PTA was worth it.

Apatow mentioned that John C. Reilly did reseach on the porn industry before filming Boogie Nights by watching porn. Apatow then said that's something he still practices because he did the same thing for Walk Hard.

Someone asked about the score. PTA answered that it was done by Jonny Greenwood. All the Radiohead fans in the audience clapped. PTA then said something like, "There you go."

Since there were Writers Guild members there, PTA was asked about his writing process. He said that being a disciplined writer is key. That he doesn't start writing knowing where he's going to take a scene/story. He likes letting the ideas come to him. DDL added that the great thing about PTA's script is that he doesn't add those emotion descriptions. How do I know the character will be angry at that time?

Someone asked how they found the child actor who played H.W. He was a local hire from Texas, his mom is a state trooper. She had no idea who PTA or DDL were; never seeing any of their films. So she decided that she should rent a film to get a look at the man who was going to be with her son the most and play his father. She watched Gangs of New York.

DDL called him a man-child. He was so smart that when DDL explained that some of the mean acts he was gonna do weren't real. The boy gave DDL a strange look, "I know that."

PTA contrasted Texas and Calif. When the filming came to Calif, the boy has to have a teacher with him on set for labor laws, etc. But the teacher was so overbearing, always asking if he was okay, do you want a snack, do you want something to drink, and so on. The mom had enough and told the teacher, "My son's from Texas. If something is wrong, he'll let you know."

PTA talked about filming in Marfa, Texas and how since Giant was also filmed there, he thought that was a good sign and was hoping of that vibe would rub off.

[MacGuffin]

There Will be Blood: On the Screening Circuit
Source: Thompson On Hollywood

**READ AT OWN RISK**


Paramount Vantage is on the There will Be Blood promo trail, screening the pic and building support. I watched the two hour and forty minute film, happily, for the second time at the WGA screening Monday night; the crowd gave Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day Lewis a standing ovation afterward.

Here's what I learned:
As far as the Oscars go--Daniel Day Lewis is a cinch for a nom. And the directors could come through for Anderson's extraordinary mise-en-scene. The writers may see some weakness in the script. The production values are stunning--production design, costumes, etc. There Will Be Blood won't play for the mainstream Academy. But it's a movie, like Citizen Kane or Greed or The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, that will endure. It has that kind of power.

Paramount Vantage should encourage folks to see this movie twice, because it really is better after it has been pre-digested. That said, gorgeous as it is, the movie is hard for people to take. It's not easy to watch. It's rough and violent and provides few good characters to hang onto. And Lewis's towering performance is more humorously operatic than I realized the first time.

Newsweek critic David Ansen, who was the only journalist on the set of the movie, moderated the Q & A and revealed that Paul Dano was originally cast as Paul Sunday, the guy who tips off Daniel Day Lewis's oilcatter to a possible oil strike in California. At the last minute, just as Dano was supposed to start filming, Anderson told him that he wanted him to play a second role, as Paul's twin brother Eli. Dano was surprised, but jumped right in. The problem is, the film is confusing. I was not sure that they were two separate people the first time. This time, I watched carefully; Anderson doesn't spell it out enough; it flies over people's heads. Several people at the screening were also confused.

Comparing the film to Upton Sinclair's novel, Ansen said, "This is original, the resemblance to the book is miniscule, based on the first 150 pages." Anderson agreed that the book was "mammoth" and thus impossible to shoot at its length. He transcribed a lot of the book, but just kept cutting and cutting. Something that was ten pages "became five, became four, became one," he said. Inspired by a plot of land on Signal Hill where oil was discovered, Sinclair "was a great journalist," said Anderson. "He wrote in amazing detail." The movie was contained in good part from being a "typical epic" by its limited scope and budget, Anderson said.

One of my favorite shots in the film, when Day Lewis on horseback rides around the outside of the Bandy house and peers in through the window, was Lewis's suggestion; Anderson just shot it. Lewis, in pork pie hat, said he did a lot of research, like digging into the ground. "It was irresistible," he said. And while he took a long time "to splash around" on finding his voice, listening to turn-of-the-century recordings, John Huston did come to mind at a certain point. Lewis sent Anderson tapes of what he was trying. "The great advantage of a period like that is noone knows, so you can do whatever you like," he said.

Anderson also watched Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre repeatedly, and gave it to Lewis and composer Jonny Greenwood. "For a few nights in a row I fell asleep to it to get into the saltwater of it all," he said.

The score by Jonny Greenwood, which seems strange and intrusive the first time, grows on you the second. One big chunk of the soundtrack is Brahms.

Anderson loved working with all the non-pros around Marfa, Texas, including first-time actor Dylan Freasier, who plays his son H.W.. "He's terrific in the film," said Anderson, "and he's ten times as terrific as a young man." First, though, Freasier's state trooper mom had to give permission for him to star in the film opposite Lewis. Unfortunately, she was horrified by Gangs of New York before someone quickly sent her The Age of Innocence. Then she relented.

I was struck by the notation "a carbon neutral production" on the closing credits. This for a movie that involves a lot of gushing and dramatically burning oil. Anderson admitted afterwards that he had nothing to do with this and found it amusing, as the burning oil is real in the film and would be pretty hard to neutralize. "Did they plant a lot trees?" he asked. The ILM digital effects in the movie are mostly enhancements, along the lines of a wonderful shot of an oil lake with the sky reflecting in it. Anderson had seen a picture of a lake like that and wanted it in the film.

Ansen has a trove of info on this film. I hope he goes ahead and writes up what he knows online, even if Newsweek's print edition isn't interested.

[modage]

i was just reading through some of the facebook reviews for this, from people who have SEEN the film and i just wanted to share a few so that we could puke together!

4/5 Stars
"This is an amazing masterpiece. Paul Thomas Anderson is my new favorite director. I give it one short on the stars because of some of the story elements are not my taste, but that being said, it doesn't diminish my incredible admiration for what the director accomplished. His work so simple he makes other people look great. All the acting was at the top of its game. The cinematography stellar."
- Carole Holliday

4/5 Stars
"Interesting, surely. But given that it's 3 hours in the company of a misanthrope festering in his own hateful bile, it's hardly a fun night at the movies. Knew I was going to have to see it, relieved to cross it off the list."
- Alexandra Mircheff

2/5 Stars
"I walked into this film knowing absolutely nothing about it. About 10 minutes in I was wondering who directed. I stayed interested, enjoying the off-beat way that it was filmed, the quirky script, and the somewhat intriguing premise...for a while. By about halfway in the film had steered down a number of cliched paths and the Kubrick-esque score had grown tiresome with it's psychological mindgames. By the time the director's credit flashed up on the screen at the end, I could only think to myself "There will be blood, yes, and it will be that of PT Anderson!" Arrrrrgh!!! Why, why, why?! Such promise. Such disappointment! Punch Drunk Love was a real step in the right direction, and redeemed Magnolia's excesses in a lot of ways, but this has gone in precisely the opposite direction, taking the overblown melodrama of Magnolia (which was somewhat effective and you could understand what it was trying to achieve) and instead trying to reduce things to the barest minimum, which frankly, just doesn't work in this film. PTA, I love you to death but you're killing me here!"
- Nicole Scheid

also:



that guy has seen it.

[MacGuffin]

If Seth Rogen Retires, Blame Daniel Day-Lewis
Source: MTV

Before you pick up that ginormous turkey leg this week, take a moment to think of the insane and delightful universe we live in where Judd Apatow interviews Daniel Day-Lewis in front of an audience.

A while back, I read that this L.A. event was set to take place last week after a screening of the much anticipated P.T. Anderson flick, "There Will Be Blood." Even the thought of it had me regretting my east coast address ever since.

So when I chatted up Seth Rogen about his amazing 2007, I decided to ask him about the event, and sure enough he was there the night before. Said Rogen, "the Q&A with Judd was hilarious. Judd's first question was, 'Daniel, I know you're very private so I don't want to ask about your personal life, but I have to ask...which did you like more: 'Knocked Up' or 'Superbad'?' And he clearly had never heard of either." Rogen joked, "he was busy mining for oil in real life."

As for the film itself, it's got Seth's vote. "The movie itself is absolutely mindblowing," he said. Rogen continued, "it kind of makes me want to quit acting to watch Daniel Day-Lewis act. He came out afterward and talked and there's literally zero similarity between him and the character. They don't sound the same or look the same or move the same. It could not be more different than how I operate. I literally wear the same shirts."

[ElPandaRoyal]

I'm a fan of Seth Rogen since "Freaks and Geeks", and the fact that he did love CMBB tells me he has some great taste in movies as well (and I haven't even seen CMBB), so he's pretty cool in my book.

[Stefen]

Nicole Scheid is a bitch.

I'm going to get her pregnant then split while I'm high fiving PTA. Fuck her.

[theyarelegion]

New trailer?

http://imdb.com/title/tt0469494/trailers-screenplay-E34611-314

[Stefen]

New trailer?

http://imdb.com/title/tt0469494/trailers-screenplay-E34611-314

I think that's just the first theatrical trailer. Which I like alot more than the new one that's up at quicktime.