Great Character: Daniel Plainview (“There Will Be Blood”)
Today’s Great Character post is provided by longtime GITS follower Jason Cuthbert, another in this month’s focus on anti-heroes:
In 2007, two rustic, western-related dramas, both ironically shot in Marfa, Texas and bathed in rural brown and country beige shared 8 Academy Award nominations going into the 80th annual award show — No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood. The Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men Oscar Award domination grabbed the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay trophies away from director Paul Thomas Anderson. But redemption came in the form of Daniel Day-Lewis’ super nova seizing of the Best Actor nod as the intensely shrewd oil prospector Daniel Plainview — a performance that virtually swept every major award ceremony that year.
There Will Be Blood plot summary from IMDB:
A story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
With There Will Be Blood, auteur filmmaker extraordinaire Paul Thomas Anderson adapted less than a third of Upton Sinclair’s greed exploration novel Oil!, continuing his critically lauded winning streak as screenwriter and director, creative jobs that he has filled for every feature film he has ever made — including 2012’s The Master. His working relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis on There Will Be Blood marked a departure from his “PTA Acting Ensemble” that had previously included Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzman in every film, John C. Reilly and Philip Baker Hall (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia) as well as William H. Macy and Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights, Magnolia).
Paul Thomas Anderson pushed for more of a one-on-one conflict: a money vs. religion grudge match with Daniel Plainview’s all-consuming entrepreneurial spirit facing off against the biblical Christian spirit of Pastor Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Even with Plainview as the increasingly ruthless anti-hero and Sunday as the more humane, passively aggressive antagonist, both men still show a capability of being highly manipulative when their egos are in danger of being deflated. Daniel wants the oil under Eli’s feet, and Eli wants Daniel’s money to finance his church and his missionary work.
Their last names define them perfectly: Sunday can only see the world through the filter of his church, a place where he is in control, a “shepherd” guiding “sheep.” Plainview can only view the world one way — through the filter of money. Love, family, friends, and companionship do not exist to him — unless of course they are used to make him even more money.
DANIEL: I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.
While Eli’s blood brother Paul Sunday (also Paul Dano) brings the Sunday Ranch oil opportunity to Daniel Plainview’s attention, we get our initial glimpse into the demonic flame hidden behind Daniel’s artificially cordial poker face.
DANIEL: If I travel all the way there and find out that you’re a liar, I’ll find you and take more than my money back, is that all right with you?
Aside from competitive rivalries and business-related inconveniences, being reminded of his infinitely empty family life is the deadliest detonator attached to the ticking time bomb that has replaced Daniel’s corroded heart.
DANIEL: One night I’m gonna come to you, inside of your house, wherever you’re sleeping, and I’m gonna cut your throat.
Daniel even admits to his “brother” Henry that he could use a break from his self-imposed exile from the human race.
DANIEL: I see the worst in people. I don’t need to look past seeing them to get all I need. I’ve built my hatreds up over the years, little by little; Henry… to have you here gives me a second breath. I can’t keep doing this on my own with these… people.
[laughs]
The innocent young sister of Eli Sunday, that Daniel’s own son receives real unconditional love from, is unfortunately just a pretty pawn that Plainview merely uses to win over the town’s support of his oil drilling exploits.
DANIEL: Now run along and play, and don’t come back.
Is this any way to express love to your adopted son?
DANIEL: You’re a bastard from a basket.
Now after Eli Sunday has had his religious olive branches that he has extended to Daniel rebuffed and rebuked, Eli suddenly has the opportunity to publicly force Plainview to get humbled and judged by his ministry’s moral compass.
In another iconic greed analysis Citizen Kane, Daniel Plainview’s cinematic predecessor Charles Foster Kane also fought hard for the preservation of his ego as well with this quote: “I don’t propose to have myself made ridiculous.” Therefore, in the most constantly quoted scene in There Will be Blood, Daniel truly revels in his opportunity to ridicule the man that actually managed to humiliate him. If the word “hate” ever had to be acted out — this is how.
If there is even an ounce of sympathy to be drilled out of the filthy soil of Daniel Plainview’s flammable demeanor, it can be found in the fact that you know that this man may never ever be happy. Is he drowning himself in alcohol to “feel happy” or to forget why he is unhappy? He attempts to explore the greater good by adopting his son, but he rejects him as soon as he is no longer a commercial asset. He lets his guard down long enough to entertain the idea of sharing his life with a brother — until he is made to look ridiculous.
Sure, he achieves his goal of living in a big fancy house, but he has to pay a servant to make sure he is okay. Even if he sucks every drop of “black gold” out of the ground and overcharges the highest bidder — only love can pay for his happiness. Daniel Plainview has made hatred and greed look and sound exactly like what it really is — ugly. For relentlessly illuminating the lowest levels that humans can descend to and for forcing us to see them all through his oily eyes — Daniel Plainview is one unforgettably GREAT CHARACTER.
Thanks to Jason for this post. Join him in comments for a discussion about Daniel Plainview.
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