10 Things You Didn't Know About Paul Thomas Anderson's Movies

5. A Pyrotechnics Test For There Will Be Blood Interrupted Filming Of No Country For Old Men

The first Paul Thomas Anderson film which truly demonstrated his transition away from complex, visually showy ensemble pieces towards more aesthetically restrained films more focused on a single character was There Will Be Blood, a masterful dissection of a man obsessed by greed and power. Daniel Day Lewis delivers a commanding performance as Daniel Plainview, but the production design is every bit as deserving of acclaim, capturing the spirit of the times with a degree of grimy, unadulterated realism. The oil derrick fire scene is a textbook example of this achievement. Unfortunately, testing this pyrotechical effect had a negative impact on the Coen brothers' production of No Country For Old Men. With both movie shooting in Marfa, Texas, a huge billow of smoke drifted over and went straight through a shot the Coens were filming. After the smoke cleared the Coens continued filming the following day. And a year later they joined Paul Thomas Anderson in the race for Oscar trophies.