I rewatched THERE WILL BE BLOOD the other day. I had not seen it in a long time. It rules.
Daniel Plainview is of course a total alien freak who basically pretends to be human. But I always wondered if he actually loved his son since there are these little moments where he shows a real tenderness towards him. This guy is basically a prisoner to his own warped worldview and gross ambitions. He doesn’t like people, and he doesn’t want them to succeed . . . but he ain’t exactly happy about it! And so the whole time you desperately want to believe he possesses some semblance of humanity. I want him to love his son! So: Lord help me, I literally searched “does daniel plainview love his son”—and lo, I actually found a Reddit AMA where Paul Thomas Anderson himself clarifies this:
(“Don’t you think?” I love it.)
W-whew!! OK now I can go to the grave knowing that my instincts were correct. :,)
