Overthinking ‘Blood’: What Did Daniel Plainview Tell Eli?

Remember a few years back when a not-quite-audible stolen whisper between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in Lost In Translation got the entire cinematic world buzzing? Well, while taking in our third viewing of There Will Be Blood the other evening, we noticed a scene in which something very similar occurs. Just moments after Daniel Plainview’s now legendary “I have abandoned my boy!” outburst at the Church Of The Third Revelation (the scene that will likely go down as having locked up Daniel Day-Lewis’ second Oscar for Best Actor), there is a brief exchange that takes place between him and Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) just after Plainview has been violently baptized. In the clip (see above), not only can no dialogue between the actors be heard, but Paul Thomas Anderson’s shooting script does not specifically indicate what the characters are saying to each other at this moment. Yet, as the clip clearly demonstrates, there is a relatively heated (if one-sided) conversation between the two. We have a few theories on what went down but, at this point, we would rather open it up for you to discuss. Leave your comments after the jump!

• There Will Be Blood
• Salvation Scene In The Film, ‘There Will Be Blood’ [YouTube]