(Source: Far Out / YouTube still image)
It was Paul Thomas Anderson’s second film, Boogie Nightswhich brought the filmmaker great fame. Packed with humor, emotion, various intersecting storylines, complex characters and an overall atmosphere that was very close to the 1970s, Boogie Nights felt like the film was made by someone far more experienced than Anderson. Yet the director had incredible skill from the start, which helped him become one of the most celebrated filmmakers of his generation.
He followed Boogie Nights with another very successful work, magnoliabefore he approached the genre of romantic comedy in an idiosyncratic way with Drunken Lovewith Adam Sandler in the lead role. However, the filmmaker would prove his true greatness with his 2007 film Blood will flowwhich should be considered one of the best films of the 21st century.
To bring the film to life, Anderson found the perfect cast for the dramatic picture. Daniel Day-Lewis played Daniel Plainview, a greedy businessman who would do anything to get his hands on the lucrative oil reserves that lie on the Sunday family’s land. Eli and Paul Sunday are both played by Paul Dano, who holds his own against the terrific (and terrifying) Day-Lewis.
Eli, a preacher who claims to heal people, faces Daniel’s wrath and is dragged and beaten by the despicable oil tycoon. It’s a gripping story of greed, power and deception, with Anderson seemingly commenting on how capitalist thinking can completely destroy a person’s morals.
Although the film is a historical drama set in the early 1900s, Anderson considers it almost “science fiction,” although there is nothing typical of the genre in the film. In fact, Anderson once used the term to describe Blood will flow because he felt so far removed from the time in which it takes place.
He told Filmmaker Magazine“Blood will flow it was almost like a science fiction film because I didn’t know anyone who lived back then – in these things you rely on photographs to guide you.” Anderson had to interpret his own ideas about a time that is unrecognizable compared to the one we live in today.
That’s the problem with filmmaking. When a film is set in a time that existed only a few decades ago – or when it is based on people who are still alive – directors don’t have to worry as much about the accuracy of sets, costumes, the way people spoke and how the contemporary characters would actually have acted. But with Blood will flowAnderson had to do a lot of research himself and hope that everything was as historically accurate as possible.
Anderson continued: “You always try to make it real and authentic, whether you’re drawing on period images or your own imagination, or in this case the book – not that there was much description of the interiors in the novel. But sometimes what happens is that you get something that’s very authentic and true to the period, but just doesn’t fit – especially in this era when there’s such a lack of taste.”
Doing things right isn’t necessarily the right decision, Anderson confirms. “Something can be right but so egregious that it’s distracting, and you have to monitor that – if it’s right but looks like you’ve tried too hard, you have to find another way.”
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