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

[theyarelegion]

Tom Hardy is Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood.

Hardy – the 31-year-old actor who has so far racked up appearances in Black Hawk Down, Marie Antoinette and Layer Cake – has just completed the knockout role of his ever-blossoming career. He's Bronson, Charles Bronson, in the appropriately named Bronson – a tale of one of the uk's most notorious prisoners. It's one hell of a performance, as fully absorbed as Daniel Day-Lewis, say.

[Stefen]

Aside from Hardy, Mulligan and the guy from Slumdog, I haven't heard of ANY of those 'rising stars.'

[squints]

"A clip from There Will Be Blood presented as only the locations fixated by 11 viewers. Their gaze was recorded using an Eyelink 1000 and visualised as a "peekthrough" heatmap using CARPE"

http://vimeo.com/19677876

[RegularKarate]

"A clip from There Will Be Blood presented as only the locations fixated by 11 viewers. Their gaze was recorded using an Eyelink 1000 and visualised as a "peekthrough" heatmap using CARPE"

http://vimeo.com/19677876

Yeah, Cigs and Redvines posted this yesterday.  It's fascinating.  I want to see this done with more movies. 

[Pubrick]

"A clip from There Will Be Blood presented as only the locations fixated by 11 viewers. Their gaze was recorded using an Eyelink 1000 and visualised as a "peekthrough" heatmap using CARPE"

http://vimeo.com/19677876

this is more than fascinating.

the use of this technology is potentially tantamount to telepathy. it shows the effectiveness of compositions, sure, and that's amazing in itself -- quick aside, favourite parts are when the audience focuses on small details like fletcher hamilton having a puff of his cig briefly as the camera is actually about to focus on paul (when the conversation amps up at this point) then when paul is explaining on a map the eyes focus on HW and lingers on him after he asks Paul how many sisters he has.. little things like this explain how we create characters out of small bits of dialogue and reactions.. --- but what would really be interesting to see is how one particular person watches a movie. for example how PTA would watch his own movie.. or how he would watch a kubrick movie.

i have no idea how this technology actually works but it's amazing to see it being developed. i never imagined anything like that could exist. of course it's advertising companies who will make the most of it.

[tpfkabi]

That would interesting to see how certain directors watch a film.

I have seen a similar technology when watching a study on human attraction. They posted various photos or videos of the opposite sex and recorded where the subject would look or focus on.

[Pas]

Well, more than fascinating is more than a stretch. Fascinating was a good enough adjective.

It mostly confirms that people look at the talking character.

[theyarelegion]

what does he say at 1:14, fields of mccoy?

[polkablues]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatfields_and_McCoys

[theyarelegion]

thanks!

[B.C. Long]

Why is Daniel Plainview in a Gone with the Wind poster?

[modage]

Okay.  So here's the deal:

'There Will Be Blood' is not a contemporary-Bush-slamming treatise.  It's set firmly at the turn of the century.  It's not a Magnolia-esque ensemble piece.  It's a Father/Son story, plain and simple (and yes, set in Southern California).  Daniel (a nod in the script to Day-Lewis?) is a down-and-dirty, hard-working prospector.  He struggles and gains some success.  One of his early endeavors kills a partner, which leaves him the responsibilty of taking care of the man's son, H.W.  Cut to a few years later.  Daniel is a respectable oil man, and H.W. is his right hand, illiterate and wise for his age.  Daniel is presented with a choice prospect by a young man, and despite his reservations, pursues it.  

The prospect is the young man's family homestead.  The family is fanatically religious and quite dim.  They sell the rights to drill to Daniel, and at first, things seem okay.  The land is fertile, and success seems eminent.  But troubles arise when the family's devotion to Christ gets in the way (which entails beating children).  The eldest son (who fanices himself a healer) wants to bless the drill bit.  And renovate the church.  Daniel scoffs at this.  And then disaster strikes.  To whom, I will not reveal here, but it propells much of the story.

For 130 pages, it's a great script.  Compelling and page-turning, there are graphic descriptions of how oil-drilling works and what happens when it goes awry (read: graphic deaths).  It reads like any PTA script, save for any curses or debauchery ('cept for one moment, where Daniel's sex life is brought up).  Everything is great... until the last 20 pages.  We jump 15 years ahead... and it all fallls to shit.  The narrative momentum has been derailed.  The punch is not there.  And with some bad casting, some scenes at end could turn out down right laughable (here's a hint: Stacy Edwards in 'In the Comapny of Men,' that's a fine line).  

Honestly, as is, I do not see this movie getting made anytime soon.  It's too big, too sprawling, and too depressing (not to mention the outright contempt that's displayed towards organized religion).  There is no humor here.  It's a straight-up, hard-core drama about the need for family connections, yet a contempt for humanity (my favorite scene has Daniel explaining how he hates, well, everyone).  

P.S. The title has to do with baptisms.

P.P.S.  I'm wondering at this point if this script has anything to do with Sinclair's 'Oil!'  I have not read the book, but from what I've gathered, apart from the time period and the drilling stuff, it's quite a different story (and btw, the script makes no mention of any adaptation).

We just missed the SIX YEAR ANNIVERSARY of this post.  Isn't that crazy?  Fascinating to read now this first script review ever.

[Jeremy Blackman]

This is my favorite part:

We jump 15 years ahead... and it all fallls to shit.  The narrative momentum has been derailed.  The punch is not there.  And with some bad casting, some scenes at end could turn out down right laughable

Maybe he was referencing the milkshake dialogue.

[Stefen]

Weak2ndAct was a top 5 poster here. Wish he would come back.

He's probably dead. His kind doesn't live long.

R.I.P.

[cronopio 2]

Amen. i miss him, too. and i don't know if hacksparrow also died or changed his name but i miss him too. decent fella.