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So, with the preparation for Plainview finished, all that was left was to see how the character
interacts with others.
Daniel Day Lewis said that you can work in isolation developing the character, “but
you have no idea who the character is until they start colliding with other developed
characters” (Charlie Rose).
The story isn’t just about Daniel Plainview, it’s about how he comes into conflict on
the way to his goals.
Plainview is the protagonist of the story and we want to see him succeed, but I think
one of the most important aspects of Plainview’s character is that
we identify with him through his vices.
He isn’t an everyman-type.
He isn’t some altruistic hero that we would identify with by feeling morally superior.
Instead, we understand his ambition, his need to crush the opposition, and how devastating
it is when you become bested.
“I have a competition in me.
I want no one else to succeed.”
Day Lewis, speaking as his character, said, "Whatever it takes, whatever you want me to
say, I’ll do that thing, just give me [your land]…
The moment I clap eyes on Eli, Eli starts making himself heard.
I recognize a fellow shyster right from that moment.
It’s irksome because I know I’m going to have to deal with it, but there’s a satisfaction
in being able to see the pure hypocrisy –
anything to reinforce my own view of the universe" (Time Out).
Plainview is a conman of sorts; the people who own and live on the land are just another
obstacle to overcome on his quest for oil.
The people might as well be the same as the ground that needs to be drilled through.
So what happens when the conman is bested by other conmen?
“What do you want me to say?”
Well, he loses his sh*t.
Fun fact: The script originally had Plainview beat Eli to death with “a heavy silver tumbler”
instead of a bowling pin (Shortlist).
On the earlier fight scene between Plainview and Eli, it wasn’t really choreographed,
but they planned it enough so that they only had to do it once or twice (Reel Pieces).
The funny thing is that they intentionally scheduled the baptism scene the next day so
Paul Dano had a chance to smack Day Lewis around (Reel Pieces).
Plainview’s relationship with HW is interesting because it endears Plainview to the audience,
but for all we know, HW could just be part of the con— a single father with a young
boy could gain a lot of sympathy when getting leases.
“Where’s your wife?”
“She died in childbirth, Mrs. Banks.
It’s just me and my son now.”
But of all the cons, perhaps the role of HW in Plainview’s life is the most intense.
HW doesn’t know that his real father was killed by falling tools when he was a baby—
he doesn’t know that his relationship with Plainview as his father possibly began as
a ruse— as just a means to get oil.
But Plainview has conned himself.
He cares for his son and realizes how much he loves HW in the wake of sending him away.
“I’ve abandoned my child!
I’ve abandoned my boy!
I’ve abandoned my child!
I’ve- Oh here he is.
He’s right here.”
Whoops, wrong clip.
“I’ve abandoned my child!
I’ve abandoned my boy!”
There we go.
But at the end of the movie, he has gotten everything he wanted.
He bested Henry and Eli, but in revealing the truth to HW he has actually bested himself.
He has now fully separated himself from humanity.
Day Lewis said, "there’s no part of him that understands what the responsibility is
of a parent, and he’s not so consciously cynical as to see—except perhaps at the
end, when he’s had time to ruminate upon his life and look back upon it—to see that
this young man was a cute face to buy land.
That, in effect, was part of the attraction.
You know, he understood pretty quickly that it was no bad thing to have this appendage
with him.
There was real love, real affection; but nonetheless, he regarded this unnaturally mature child
as a partner, as a working partner in his life" (Schwartz).
So, at the end of the film, has gotten the success that he has always wanted and bested
those who have bested him, and yet, he sheds himself of his only ally in the world.
Day Lewis said that, at some point, the process of getting the oil is more important than
the oil itself (Charlie Rose).
“We’ll make you a millionaire while you’re sitting here from one minute to the next.”
“What else would I do with myself?”
Perhaps he doesn’t know what to do now that there are no more holes to drill.
Charlie Rose: “Where does competition like that come from?”
Daniel Day-Lewis: “It’s primal.
It’s primal.”
Charlie Rose: “You’re born with it or not.”
Daniel Day-Lewis: “I think so.
I mean, I think Daniel’s experiences before we meet him certainly might have sharpened
the edge of his ambition, but yeah, I think that completion is something that is…
it’s in his origins, yeah.”
Paul Dano, who played Paul and Eli Sunday, said that they didn’t really rehearse while
making the film opting instead to let things happen naturally and spontaneous (Collider).
Paul Thomas Anderson: “What I know that, what actors
don't want, is they don't want to have a lot of chitchat or dialogue or endless
conversations on the set or while you're trying to do something.
Nobody wants it… to avoid those things, you take time
to do it privately with the script.
Try to not over talk it or overthink it, leave some mystery to happen, and just create a
scenario that is quiet, delicate, and productive.”
Of course this practice is not always quiet or delicate.
Comedian Paul F Tompkins, who had a small cameo in the film as this guy, said that on
the first take, not having rehearsed, when Plainview turns around to speak to him.
“I wouldn’t take the lease if you gave it to me as a gift.”
Day Lewis screamed in his face (Tompkins).
Which I imagine, especially coming from this character and actor, was insanely frightening.
Robert Elswit said, “Paul has very clear ideas, but he doesn’t want to plan out every
little thing in advance…
Actors love him because they feel free to play, create and discover.
Cinematographers want to control things as much as we can, but what I’ve learned from
Paul is how much better it can be to let accidents happen rather than try to force everything
to be a certain way.
He wants to see things unfold on the set, and if something isn’t working, he’s willing
to stop in his tracks and start all over again.
So there’s a constant recharging and renewal of creative energy” (Blood for Oil).
Obviously, this was quite difficult for the focus puller and dolly grip who had to keep
up with the actors' somewhat spontaneous movements moment by moment (Blood for Oil).
Elswit continues saying, "When you work with Paul, you’re shooting with anamorphic lenses
and there are no marks on the ground.
There is no hair-and-makeup or wardrobe on set.
There are no final touches, there’s no ringing of the bell, there’s no announcement that
we’re shooting.
There’s also no standard rehearsal, really; once we figure out what the shot will be,
there’s a little bit of rehearsal, but then it starts to change and the rehearsal turns
into the shooting” (Blood for Oil).
The freedom of the actors also requires the setting and lighting to work nearly 360 degrees.
The camera can turn to follow the actors almost anywhere and the integrity of the world would
remain intact.
One of the most important parts of the setting is the extras.
The wonderfully convincing extras are mainly the work of casting director Cassandra Kulkundis
and costume designer Mark Bridges (PONSOLDT).
Anderson said that Bridges was particularly good at finding extras who have the right look.
While shooting in Texas, the extras were made up of local people, but when they shot in
California, they hired professional extras.
Anderson said that the professional California extras were “desperate to act and be noticed”
while the Texas locals were not angling or “positioning themselves for screen time" (PONSOLDT).
There was an interesting moment in an outtake that really highlights how fluid things were.
In the scene where Plainview is drinking at the restaurant and harassing the Standard
Oil guys, he holds out an empty glass for the waiter to take, but the actor doesn’t
know what to do.
“Excuse me. Thank you.”
“Well, take the glass.”
Anderson was also pleased at how dedicated the Texas locals were, being non professional,
they were still able to go all day in the heat and costumes and not get fatigued (PONSOLDT).
The production was a bit pressed for time, so they weren’t able to do an extraordinary
amount of takes, but the mentality was to shoot and try things until something worked.
It wasn’t about getting something specific and doing it until it was perfect.
Day Lewis said that it makes no difference how many takes you do, if your curiosity is
in the right place, you might as well keep re-examining the same moment (Reel Pieces).
This makes sense, if you are still interested in experimenting with the scene and you have
the time, why not see what else you can do?
It’s only hurting the film to try and force something specific to happen without considering
the ideas of the cast and crew, the interesting unforeseen things going on with the setting,
and unique things that happen on the fly.
Day Lewis remembers spending a particularly long amount of time
simply shooting the final line.
“I’m finished.”
He said that everything that you see on the screen is a result of an experiment (Reel Pieces).
Daniel Day Lewis’ method acting has turned him into an almost mythical figure.
“Was it hard playing Obama?
I’ll be honest, yeah it was.
This accent took a while.
Hello Ohio!
Hello Ohio!...
What makes him tick?
Why doesn’t he get mad?
If I were him, I’d get mad all the time.
But I’m not him.
I’m Daniel Day-Lewis.”
There were a lot of false rumors as to what Day Lewis did to prepare for the role.
One such rumor was that Day Lewis actually built a derrick in a field behind his house,
which after reading, he said he kind of liked the idea (Indie London).
He feels that he is often misrepresented in that most people focus on the practical details
of his preparation, like researching a role by spending time in a prison or what not.
But that’s just the surface level of Daniel Day Lewis as an actor.
He says, "for me as much as that work is a vital part of it and always fuel to one’s
fascination, one’s curiosity, the principal work is always in the imagination.
That’s where it’s going to happen if it’s going to happen anywhere at all.
The imagination in very close working partnership with the subconscious, I think, because when
the work is happening the way it should be you can’t be entirely in control of it” (Indie London).
In this way, the character is formed mainly through changing your mindset.
Research gives you an invaluable practical feel for what the character has to do or experience,
but the core of Daniel Plainview doesn’t really have much to do with whether or not
he can swing a pickaxe well.
His core is what motivates him and how he feels and reacts to things.
A lot of the discoveries he makes about the character happen during production.
Sometimes you don’t realize the level of reaction the character has until they are
in the moment.
Part of this involves, perhaps, Daniel Day Lewis’ most famous technique—
staying in character throughout shooting.
One of the main reasons behind this technique is to try and prevent yourself from making
“choices” (Reel Pieces).
In your day to day life, you aren’t thinking about how you are going to react to something…
you just react.
Daniel Day-Lewis: “My decision-making process has to happen in such a way that I’m absolutely
unaware of it.
Otherwise, I’m already somehow objectifying
a situation that demands something utterly different.” (Reel Pieces).
Paul Dano said, "because we didn’t really rehearse and so sometimes, I didn’t know
how big something that was gonna come out of him was gonna [be] because he’s so powerful.
And I don’t really want to say specific instances.
I think you can probably imagine hearing some of the lines from that ending scene on the
page... but then, you know, the real deal
is just a whole (other) level, you know, from that.
I definitely had moments like that.
It was cool" (Collider).
“Drainage!
Drainage, Eli!”
Day Lewis feels that it would be crazy for him to "jump in and out" of the mind of the
character during shooting (Film Gamer).
It is somewhat unorthodox, but you can’t really deny that this method has yielded some
incredible results.
“Have you been able to come out of character now, you know, with so many wins?”
“I think- I think I’m- I’m definitely out of character at this moment.
But if I slip back into it by mistake, you can do an intervention of some kind, the Heimlich
maneuver or whatever you do with actors that get stuck in character.
I don’t know, but I’m definitely out of character now.”
This is also part of the reason why Day Lewis didn't try to use any over-arching metaphor
in his portrayal of Daniel Plainview.
His focus is narrow— happening from inside the character himself at that moment rather
than the past, future, or the objective world the character inhabits (Schwartz).
Day Lewis said, "the moment you step outside of something and objectify it, then you distance
yourself from the experience of that life, and therefore, as far as possible...
No, there was no part of me that made any conscious decision about how the younger and
middle aged Plainview would develop into the older Plainview.
It just seemed to develop out of the story and his experiences” (Schwartz).
Day Lewis’ practice of staying in character for months at a time was invaluable for
Paul Thomas Anderson as a director.
Paul Thomas Anderson: “You don’t go to work with Daniel Day-Lewis, whoever his character is.
That’s who you see when you get to work in the morning
and that’s who leaves at night…
I know it sounds bizarre, but it actually, from a director’s point of view,
it’s incredibly helpful.
You have your own, sort of three-dimensional character living there for you, so you just
kind of follow him and film him.”
Of course the ideal for a director would be that the character exists as a real person
and you could throw them into whatever situation and they would remain truthful.
But, imagining Daniel Plainview walking around on set is kind of scary.
Paul Thomas Anderson: “I think the impression people might get about Daniel is that he’s
very serious.”
Jimmy Kimmel: “Yes.
I do.
He’s not?”
Anderson: “He’s not.
I mean he’s- no he’s not.”
Here’s another take from Paul F Tomkins, you know, the guy from this scene.
“I don’t need the lease.
Thank you.”
“But we need you!”
“Too much confusion.
Thank you for your time.”
“No no no, there’s no confusion!”
Paul F Tompkins: “I heard that that he was a little bit intense, right?
But, he’s not really.
He’s really THE MOST intense person that has ever lived!”
Now this is funny and all, but I doubt it is as super ridged as people might think.
What’s interesting is that there is an outtake for Phantom Thread involving a food fight
between Reynolds and his sister Cyril.
In between takes, someone tries to take his glass.
“Woah woah woah, that’s my character’s.”
I thought it was interesting how he objects and says that it is his character’s glass.
And here, he breaks character and laughs in an outtake.
Daniel Day Lewis doesn’t like watching his performances.
He doesn’t usually look at dailies and on There Will Be Blood, he didn’t want to,
but Anderson asked him to come in to look at something after
the first two weeks of shooting (Charlie Rose).
Paul Thomas Anderson: “I had look at what we had done because we all needed to collect
ourselves after a week or whatever it had been to say,
‘it’s not exactly what it should be.
I’m not quite sure how to say exactly what it should be, so I have no good direction.”
Charlie Rose: “So you said that to him?”
Anderson: “Yeah or that was the understanding of what was going on.”
Day Lewis was too far into the mindset of the character to be able to think about what
he was doing in an objective way, so when he saw the footage from the first two weeks
after two years of developing the character he thought, “who the hell is that?
How are we going to build a character around that?” (Charlie Rose).
Anderson rewrote the scene because that’s usually where the root of the problem is
and they recalibrated (Charlie Rose).
Anderson said, "It was like we were cooped up in the starting gate, and the second the
starting gate opened, we fell flat on our faces with all of this energy.
We had the most horrendous beginning of a film, for two weeks, just completely off of
the mark.
We got it together finally, but it was hilarious.
We had been cooped up for too long…
There was some stuff that was salvageable.
There was some stuff that we got that was good, really good, actually.
But mixed in was some stuff that I wouldn't show to anyone—the most embarrassing, off-the-mark
kind of stuff" (Modell).
And I think that is, perhaps, the most important thing to realize about how a such a great
performance, character, and film were made— we don’t see the stuff that didn’t work.
We don’t get to hear the process of Daniel Day Lewis finding Plainview’s voice— his
wandering around speaking into a dictaphone— and we don’t see all of the experiments
on the set that were just terrible.
You have to be willing to take risks because it is in those risks that greatness is found.
“Why aren’t you making twice as many movies as you make, which the calendar would suggest
you could do, but I gather your approach to work doesn’t?”
Daniel Day-Lewis: “I think it’s because I love to do it so much I couldn’t love
it as much if I did it more often.
As simple as that.
It’s not in retreat from that work that I go in search of other things.
It’s with the very positive feeling that I would like to learn about other things for
a while and I personally believe those two lives go hand-in-hand.
They need each other.
I don’t think I’d have very much to offer
if my experiences really were taken from other movie sets.”
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