Quotes
 [on researching for There Will Be Blood (2007)] After a few trips to Bakersfield, where they have museums devoted to the early oilmen, I started to get a sense of the film. The museums are largely trailers with a lot of oil equipment lying around the yard. Back in the day, enough people had cameras and they took a lot of pictures. Oil fields were an interesting thing to photograph, and that research made it easy to put the pieces of their times together. [on Stanley Kubrick] We`re all children of Kubrick, aren`t we? Is there anything you can do that he hasn`t done?
(imdb.com)
I remember the bad outfits my parents dressed me up in and my Beatles haircut but I never watched "The Brady Bunch" (1969). The Partridges? I hated their music.
(imdb.com)
[on the popular belief that Daniel Day-Lewis is indifferent or not completely committed to remaining an actor] That is an amazing misconception. Daniel loves acting so much that it becomes a quest for perfection. People don`t know how Daniel can do this job the way that he does it, and my feeling is, I just can`t understand how anyone could do it any other way.
(imdb.com)
All I wanna try and do is sing "Melancholy Baby", y`know, but then it starts to come out like "The Star Spangled Banner" half the time.
(imdb.com)
I watch [Steven Spielberg] movies, and know: Those are fairy tales. I understand what he does. And I make a film on cancer and frogs - however I want that many spectators nevertheless! I find that is a good goal, and I consider it a weakness of mine that I haven`t reached it yet.
(imdb.com)
[on buying a copy of Upton Sinclair`s "Oil!", which he adapted into There Will Be Blood (2007)] I was homesick and the book had a painting of California on the cover.
(imdb.com)
I have a feeling, one of those gut feelings, that I`ll make pretty good movies the rest of my life. And maybe I`ll make some clunkers, maybe I`ll make some winners, but I guess the way that I really feel is that Magnolia (1999) is, for better or worse, the best movie I`ll ever make.
(imdb.com)
I had older brothers and sisters who were doing drugs and playing rock music and doing all those insane things. I was watching.
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You can really see a strong and distinctive line between `70s and `80s porn, not just in the quality but in the spirit behind it.
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My dad was one of the first guys on the block to have a VCR. So along with all the videotapes that I would rummage through, I would find porno movies. Not that it twisted me into some maniac or anything. I was watching porno from age 10 to 17. I had an interest in it.
(imdb.com)
[on the meaning of Magnolia (1999)`s ending] Oh, how I hate it, when directors are supposed to explain their films. I only say this much: If I had had more cash, I would have let it rain cats and dogs.
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Today`s movie villains often remind us of James Cagney and `Humphrey Bogart` and that`s as cool as it gets. There`s something comforting if they`re hip and cool. They`re not entirely real, or not entirely threatening, so it might be a little easier to swallow if they remind us of traditional movie villains.
(imdb.com)
No matter how many times you do it, you don`t get used to the sadness - for me at least - of coming to the end of a film.
(imdb.com)
All of life`s questions and answers are in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). It`s about greed and ambition and paranoia and looking at the worst parts of yourself. When I was writing There Will Be Blood (2007), I would put "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" on before I went to bed at night, just to fall asleep to it.
(imdb.com)
Trivia
Tom Cruise got him on to the set of Eyes Wide Shut (1999). He spent the day there and got to talk to Stanley Kubrick.
(imdb.com)
Attended Emerson College in Boston, Mass.
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Cites Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme as his biggest influences and considers both to be the greatest American film directors.
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Daughter, Pearl, with girlfriend Maya Rudolph, born October 2005.
(imdb.com)
Is a big fan of Adam Sandler and his movies.
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He shaves his head before SOME productions. He did not shave his head before the production of Magnolia (1999), as evidenced in the documentary on the DVD.
(imdb.com)
As of 2008 he has directed four actors in Oscar-nominated performances. In chronological order they are Burt Reynolds (Best Supporting Actor for Boogie Nights (1997)), Julianne Moore (Best Supporting Actress for Boogie Nights (1997)), Tom Cruise (Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia (1999)) and Daniel Day-Lewis (Best Actor for There Will Be Blood (2007)). Daniel Day-Lewis won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in There Will Be Blood (2007).
(imdb.com)
Was employed as a standby director for A Prairie Home Companion (2006) for insurance purposes, and in the event that ailing 80-year-old director Robert Altman was unable to finish shooting.
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His favorite all-time film is Network (1976)
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Fan and personal friend of Aimee Mann, and used her exclusively for the Magnolia soundtrack.
(imdb.com)
For the brief time he was at NYU film school he handed in some of Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet's work as his own. When he got it back with a "C" grade he decided to leave.
(imdb.com)
Father was a local celebrity in Cleveland, where he hosted horror shows using the name Ghoulardi.
(imdb.com)
Dropped out of NYU's film program after two days. Subsequently got his tuition payment back and used the money to make Cigarettes & Coffee (1993).
(imdb.com)
Son of Ernie Anderson.
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Shares his birthday (26 June 1970) with Sean Hayes and Chris O'Donnell.
(imdb.com)
He is a good friend of Quentin Tarantino.
(imdb.com)
Lived in Los Angeles, USA with girlfriend Fiona Apple.
(imdb.com)
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