SYNOPSIS

This is based on the 1927 Upton Sinclair novel OIL. sprawling epic of family, faith, power and oil, THERE WILL BE BLOOD is set on the incendiary frontier of California’s turn-of-the-century petroleum boom. The story chronicles the life and times of one Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), who transforms himself from a down-and-out silver miner raising a son on his own into a self-made oil tycoon.

When Plainview gets a mysterious tip-off that there’s a little town out West where an ocean of oil is oozing out of the ground, he heads with his son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), to take their chances in dust-worn Little Boston. In this hardscrabble town, where the main excitement centers around the holy roller church of charismatic preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), Plainview and H.W. make their lucky strike. But even as the well raises all of their fortunes, nothing will remain the same as conflicts escalate and every human value – love, hope, community, belief, ambition and even the bond between father and son – is imperiled by corruption, deception and the flow of oil.

PREVIEW NOTES

• Variety reports that Scott Rudin will executive produce the project for Paramount Classics and the new Miramax. Variety reports that Daniel Day-Lewis and director Paul Thomas Anderson will team this spring on the film. Shooting will begin mid-May in Texas and New Mexico. - 2006-01-18
• The Hollywood Reporter reports that Paul Dano will star in the pic - Dano's character preaches into a boomtown. - 2006-08-02