'There Will Be Blood' for Daniel Day-Lewis

The award-winning actor is to play an oil prospector in Paul Thomas Anderson's next flick.

Jan 18 2006

Daniel Day-Lewis has signed up to star in 'There Will Be Blood', a no-hold-barred expose of the oil business at the turn of the 20th century.

Loosely based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel 'Oil!', the film casts Day-Lewis as a Texas oil prospector who buys the oil rights to a family's ranch in Southern California and immediately hits pay-dirt.

Paul Thomas Anderson, who has been absent from screens since 2002's 'Punch-Drunk Love', will write and direct the $25 million pic which is a co-production between Paramount Classics and Miramax.

Speaking of the project, Paramount speciality division president John Lesher said: 'It's an ambitious film and a compelling, relevant story about family, greed, religion and oil.'

'There Will Be Blood' is due to start shooting in Texas and New Mexico in May.

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