There Will Be Blood

greenwood's 2005 bbc-commissioned orchestral suite was repurposed for portions of the film score, with segments appearing in the soundtrack. the piece won the radio 3 listener's award and initially drew anderson's attention to greenwood as a potential composer.

“In fact, a portion of the TWBB score was taken from Greenwood's 2005 BBC-commissioned suite, 'Popcorn Superhet Receiver' and from another Greenwood-scored film, Bodysong (Pummell, 2003).”

greenwood's 2003 documentary score was mined for material used in there will be blood, including the track convergence, which was layered atop the title track during the derrick fire sequence. bodysong was greenwood's first film score and demonstrated his orchestral range to anderson.

“The score features elements from Greenwood's compositions 'Popcorn Superhet Receiver' and Bodysong (such as the track 'Convergence', played atop the title track during the derrick fire sequence).”

anderson adapted the first 150 pages of sinclair's 1927 novel about the california oil industry, using it as a stepping stone for the screenplay but diverging heavily in character focus and plot. the film credits the novel but anderson changed the title because there wasn't enough of the book in the film to call it a proper adaptation.

“Inspired by the novel, Anderson contacted Schlosser and adapted the first 150 pages to a screenplay.”

anderson watched huston's 1948 film repeatedly while writing the script, citing its straightforward storytelling and economy as a model for making an epic on a limited budget. he sent day-lewis a copy of the film plus documentaries on huston, whose voice became a source for day-lewis's vocal performance.

“So, when I was getting ready to make There Will Be Blood, I put on Sierra Madre before going to sleep at night for a week, just trying to get it to soak into my head and help me approach storytelling in a more old-fashioned way.”

greenwood cited penderecki's 1960 composition as a direct influence on the string writing in the score, using similar dissonant cluster techniques and microtonal shifts. greenwood's popcorn superhet receiver, portions of which appear in the film, was itself inspired by penderecki's work.

“The string writing used by Greenwood for much of TWBB score is, by Greenwood's own admission, influenced by the work of Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, whose compositions 'Polymorphia' and 'De Natura Sonoris No.1' both appear on the soundtrack of the Stanley Kubrick film, The Shining (1980).”

anderson cited stevens' 1956 oil epic as a cinematic influence and the film was shot in marfa, texas, the same location where giant was filmed, though anderson did not know about the connection until after the location was selected. the oil derrick explosion sequence was inspired by a similar geyser scene in giant.

“The inspiration for the oil derrick explosion came from Giant, 1956 film starring James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor. Giant is apparently one of PTA's favourite films, and there's a scene in that film featuring an oil geyser blowing.”