Cast and Characters (There Will Be Blood) There Will Be Blood
Principal Cast
Daniel Plainview — Daniel Day-Lewis
A silver miner turned oil prospector whose consuming ambition destroys every human relationship he touches. Plainview adopts an orphaned boy to appear as a family man, murders an impostor who briefly eased his loneliness, and ends his life drunk and alone in a bowling alley, having beaten his last rival to death with a pin. Day-Lewis spent over a year developing Plainview's distinctive voice, consulting period documentaries and reading letters from historical oilfield workers, drawing vocal inspiration from director John Huston's recordings.
"I felt immediately drawn into the orbit of a world I knew nothing about." — Daniel Day-Lewis, Cinephilia & Beyond
Day-Lewis's method involved months of private preparation before filming began. He described the process as beginning with "many months in apparently listless rumination, out of which I hope something will emerge." (chicagomoviemagazine)
Producer JoAnne Sellar suggested the film might not have been made if Day-Lewis had declined, and Paul Thomas Anderson confirmed he wrote the role specifically for the actor. Day-Lewis improvised Plainview's introduction speech to the Little Boston landowners, which Anderson called "delicious. It was Plainview on a platter." (alltherightmovies)
"A thrilling performance, among the greatest I've seen... purposefully alienating and brilliantly located at the juncture between cinematic realism and theatrical spectacle." — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times (2007)
"His performance is genius (and I use that word advisedly)." — Richard Schickel, TIME (2007)
Eli Sunday / Paul Sunday — Paul Dano
Eli Sunday is a young charismatic preacher leading the Church of the Third Revelation in Little Boston, whose hunger for power and status mirrors Plainview's in spiritual form. His twin brother Paul sells the family's oil secret to Plainview for $500 and is never seen again. Dano was initially cast only as Paul; when actor Kel O'Neill was fired from the role of Eli after two weeks of filming, Anderson asked Dano to play both twins.
"I was just going holy sht, he's so powerful." — Paul Dano, on working with Day-Lewis, All The Right Movies*
Dano's late entry into the dual role meant he had minimal preparation time opposite Day-Lewis's months of character work. The imbalance between the actors — Dano visibly overwhelmed, Day-Lewis towering — became part of the film's texture, mirroring the power dynamic between Plainview and Eli. (alltherightmovies, collider)
Henry — Kevin J. O'Connor
An impostor who presents himself as Daniel Plainview's half-brother, carrying a diary as proof. Plainview initially takes him in, desperate for a genuine human connection, and confides in Henry his most misanthropic impulses. When Plainview discovers the deception, he murders Henry and buries him in the desert. O'Connor plays Henry as gentle and worn down, a man running a con he's too tired to sustain.
Fletcher Hamilton — Ciarán Hinds
Plainview's business partner and advisor, a more conventional oilman who handles the respectable side of the operation. Hinds plays Fletcher as a quiet professional increasingly uncomfortable with Plainview's methods.
H.W. Plainview — Dillon Freasier (young) / Russell Harvard (adult)
The adopted son Plainview uses as a prop in business negotiations. After being deafened by the oil well explosion, H.W. is sent away to a school for the deaf. As an adult, he marries Mary Sunday and attempts to build his own life, only to be disowned by Plainview in a final, devastating confrontation. Freasier was a local Texas boy with no acting experience; Harvard, who is deaf, plays the adult H.W. in the 1927 sequences.
Mary Sunday — Colleen Foy
Eli's younger sister and eventual wife of H.W. Plainview. Mary is one of the few genuinely vulnerable characters in the film — her father Abel's violence toward her is one of the rare moments where Plainview's intervention appears motivated by something other than self-interest.
Supporting Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| David Warshofsky | H.M. Tilford |
| Hans Howes | Adult H.W. Plainview (uncredited) |
| Paul F. Tompkins | Prescott |
| Sydney McCallister | Mary Sunday (young) |
| Jim Downey | Al Rose |