Day-Lewis revisits Athens

The star escorts Oscar-nominated 'There Will Be Blood' to a Cerebral Palsy Greece gala

Actor Daniel Day-Lewis (foreground) and director Paul Thomas Anderson

THEIR film There Will be Blood, up for eight awards at the February 24 Oscars, may be the toast of the current Berlin Film Festival, but actor Daniel Day-Lewis and director Paul Thomas Anderson took time to attend a gala screening benefiting Cerebral Palsy Greece on February 14.

In the film based on an Upton Sinclair novel, Day-Lewis plays turn-of-the-century oil prospector Daniel Plainview, a stormy misanthrope who keeps to himself - except when he needs others to tap black gold.

At a press conference before the gala, the actor revealed both the depth of his commitment to the Greek organisation and his craft. Day-Lewis recommended more people visit the Cerebral Palsy's centre to see their good work. The organisation's president, Daphne Economou, who has repeatedly welcomed the actor and friend to Athens since his Oscar-winning film My Left Foot, presented Day-Lewis with an award and shared the secret that he was carrying a filakto (good luck charm) from the organisation when he won his Academy Award.

When asked about his acting method, Day-Lewis said: "I've never yet found a way of describing it, and I doubt I ever will." He added that acting is a game where "essentially you begin with nothing, and you go to work. You go mining."

Thomas Anderson (Magnolia) also used prospecting terminology in describing how he condensed Sinclair's novel: "If you are lucky enough, you get one small thing that triggers the floodgates to open." He added that the film is about "two egos boxing it out" - Plainview's and that of a fervent young preacher (Paul Dano).

Day-Lewis was attracted to the film's lengthy, non-speaking prologue, in which Plainview gouges into the earth with his bear hands, searching for "something shiny". But he also liked playing Plainview, when the character becomes a "snakebite salesman" who tries to "convince people that it's really a good idea to give up that piece of land that's going to be pillaged".

The actor was adamant that he never judges his character or "becomes a part", but instead conjures up illusions of becoming someone that he hopes others will share. For Day-Lewis, the joy of his work is "the loss of the self". There Will Be Blood was just the creative "playground" he thrives on.

When asked how the film reflected modern oil politics, Thomas Anderson explained that he was more interested in showing the nitty-gritty details of his native California's early oil prospecting than "talking your ear off or politicising it". Day-Lewis also declined to spout politics.

Thomas Anderson said the westerns The Treasure of Sierra Madre and Giant were part of his preparation and underlined the importance of casting, including the choice of young non-actor Dillan Freasier, who plays Plainview's adopted son. The film was shot in West Texas and aggressively scored by band Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood.

Though far from Los Angeles, Day-Lewis and his director reflected on the Oscars. The actor said winning such kudos triggers "utter bewilderment" and a "cacophony of noise", while Thomas Anderson said it means the film can run longer and play in venues and "cities where we would have never had a chance to play".

There Will Be Blood is out in Greece on February 21.

ATHENS NEWS , 15/02/2008, page: A02
Article code: C13274A021