'' There Will Be Blood '' ( 2007 ) was loosely based on the Upton Sinclair novel '' Oil ! '' . It follows Daniel Plainview , a ruthless silver miner exploiting the Southern California oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries . Against a budget of $ 25 million , the film earned $ 76.1 million worldwide . '' There Will Be Blood '' received eight Academy Award nominations , tying with '' No Country for Old Men '' for the most nominations that year . Anderson was nominated for Best Picture , Best Director , and Best Adapted Screenplay , losing all three to the Coen Brothers for '' No Country for Old Men '' . Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar for Best Actor . Paul Dano received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor . Anderson was nominated for Best Director from the Directors Guild of America . '' There Will Be Blood '' was regarded by some critics as one of the greatest films of the decade , some parties further declaring it one of the most accomplished American films of the modern era . David Denby of '' The New Yorker '' wrote " the young writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson has now done work that bears comparison to the greatest achievements of Griffith and Ford " , while Richard Schickel proclaimed it " one of the most wholly original American movies ever made " . In 2017 , '' New York Times '' film critics A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis named it the " Best Film of the 21st Century So Far "
Academy Award nominations
80th Academy Awards
Paul Thomas Anderson