The Reeler‘s Stu van Airsdale had a chat at last night’s New York Film Critics Circle awards ceremony with The Lives of Others director Florian Henckle von Donnersmarck about There Will Be Blood.

The German director “was asked if he was a Blood man or No Country man. He said he’d only seen the first few minutes of the Coens’ film with his wife before the graphic violence compelled her to the exits with him in tow. It made him uncomfortable as well; he preferred the more psychological permutations of brutality spaced throughout There Will Be Blood.
“I can’t judge based on five minutes of the movie,” he said, “but I think it’ll be impossible to outdo it in my heart. It’s a film for film history. I’m in the Academy now, so PTA has my vote. Is he here? Paul Thomas Anderson? Have you seen him?”
No, van Airsdale said, but Daniel Day-Lewis would be there eventually. And when the actor did arrive, both to present Javier Bardem‘s supporting actor prize for No Country and collect his own Best Actor award for Blood, von Donnersmarck indeed cornered him while the rest of the room waited for a piece of him.”