Dillon Freasier (born March 6, 1996) is an American actor. His only
role is in the 2007 film There Will Be Blood.Freasier was not an actor
when chosen for his role in There Will Be Blood. After several
unsuccessful attempts at casting established Hollywood child actors,
Cassandra Kulukundis searched for potential actors in rural schools
near Marfa, Texas, the film's primary filming location. At the Fort
Davis school with "maybe eight boys of the right age", Freasier was
singled out by his principal. Kulukundis said that "he just stayed in
my mind, so I called his mother at home and asked if it was all right
if I could come over that night". While racing to another school to
see more boys, Kulukundis was pulled over by a traffic cop, who
happened to be Freasier's mother, and was let off with a
warning.According to The New York Times, Paul Thomas Anderson "really
wanted a kid who'd grown up around ranches and horses rather than
someone coming in and trying to fake that". In an interview, Daniel
Day-Lewis told the story of what happened when Freasier's mother
researched his past roles in an attempt to understand who her son
would be working with: "She thought she better check out this bunch of
people taking care of her son. So she got Gangs of New York.
Absolutely appalled! She thought she was releasing her dear child to
this monster. And so there was a flurry of phone calls and somebody
sent a copy of The Age of Innocence."In the Los Angeles Times,
Day-Lewis spoke about his concerns of how Freasier would react to the
more serious scenes: "I started to worry a little bit because we were
very close, and I thought, 'Man, how's he going to feel when I start
treating him harshly?' So I kind of sat him down. I created this sort
of atmosphere... portentous atmosphere. 'Dillon, you know how I feel
about you and there are going to be moments... I'm not going to treat
you nicely. I want you to understand that I love you.' He looked at me
like I was insane."
role is in the 2007 film There Will Be Blood.Freasier was not an actor
when chosen for his role in There Will Be Blood. After several
unsuccessful attempts at casting established Hollywood child actors,
Cassandra Kulukundis searched for potential actors in rural schools
near Marfa, Texas, the film's primary filming location. At the Fort
Davis school with "maybe eight boys of the right age", Freasier was
singled out by his principal. Kulukundis said that "he just stayed in
my mind, so I called his mother at home and asked if it was all right
if I could come over that night". While racing to another school to
see more boys, Kulukundis was pulled over by a traffic cop, who
happened to be Freasier's mother, and was let off with a
warning.According to The New York Times, Paul Thomas Anderson "really
wanted a kid who'd grown up around ranches and horses rather than
someone coming in and trying to fake that". In an interview, Daniel
Day-Lewis told the story of what happened when Freasier's mother
researched his past roles in an attempt to understand who her son
would be working with: "She thought she better check out this bunch of
people taking care of her son. So she got Gangs of New York.
Absolutely appalled! She thought she was releasing her dear child to
this monster. And so there was a flurry of phone calls and somebody
sent a copy of The Age of Innocence."In the Los Angeles Times,
Day-Lewis spoke about his concerns of how Freasier would react to the
more serious scenes: "I started to worry a little bit because we were
very close, and I thought, 'Man, how's he going to feel when I start
treating him harshly?' So I kind of sat him down. I created this sort
of atmosphere... portentous atmosphere. 'Dillon, you know how I feel
about you and there are going to be moments... I'm not going to treat
you nicely. I want you to understand that I love you.' He looked at me
like I was insane."
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