Paul Thomas Anderson
Age:
37
Film:
There Will Be Blood
Synopsis:
Set over a twenty year period the Will Be Blood follows Daniel Plainview (Day Lewis), who rises from a lowly silver miner to become a successful oil baron. Following a tip from a visitor named Paul Sunday, whose family sits atop a veritable ocean of oil, Plainview travels to the town of New Boston, California, with his young son. Sunday’s preacher brother Eli (both roles are played by the excellent Paul Dano) grudgingly accepts Plainview’s ambitions under the condition that he help fund the town church.
As Plainview’s plans come to fruition, a series of events begin to fracture the insular world he has constructed for himself, pitting Plainview against Sunday and forcing him to become even more vindictive and ruthless.
Previous Oscar Wins:
None
Previous Oscar Nominations:
Two - 1997 Best Original Screenplay for Boogie Nights, 1999 Best Original Screenplay for Magnolia.
Awards/Nominations for Film:
Paul Thomas Anderson was nominated for Best Director and Best Picture at the Baftas.
He also won Best Picture and Best Director at the Austin Film Critics Association, National Society of Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics Association and was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Writers Guild of America
Critics:
'Likely to cement the reputation of Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights) as the best of the younger American auteur filmmakers.' (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
'Boldly and magnificently strange... marks a significant departure in the work of Paul Thomas Anderson.' (Variety)
'A major work from an extremely talented director. But it is also a flawed, and at times distasteful, piece that will turn off as many viewers as it turns on.' (Film Journal International)
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Other Best Directpr Nominees