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Select media
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Stills must not be reproduced, copied or downloaded in any way.
Film details
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Featuring
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Director
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Country
USA
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Year
2007
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Genre
Drama
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Type
Film
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Category
Fiction
Alternative titles
- Oil! Working
Introduction
“[A] sign that will and luck coexist still in America to make a resonant film about everything. Just as with ‘Citizen Kane’ – or ‘Greed’ or ‘Magnolia’ or ‘Chinatown’ – this could have been called ‘American’.”
David Thomson, Have You Seen...? 2008
Partly based on Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel Oil!, Paul Thomas Anderson’s portrait of a megalomaniac is a grand accomplishment, on a different scale to earlier works such as Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia (1999).
The film is constructed around a bravura performance by Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, an itinerant prospector who sniffs out oil in 1911 California, and sets in motion a feud with a fervent young preacher (Paul Dano) that will dog both men for decades.
Anderson handles the sprawling story with assurance and style, and the film also boasts spectacular photography of apocalyptic desert industry by Robert Elswit and an evocative musical soundscape by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. But it’s Daniel Day-Lewis’s picture. His Plainview is proud, cold, conflicted, compelling and some kind of symbol for the American century.
Citizen Kane (1941) remains the benchmark study of American acquisitiveness, while Anderson has cited as an inspiration that classic dissection of bootless avarice, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).
Cast & Credits
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Cast
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Daniel Plainview
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Eli Sunday/Paul Sunday
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Henry
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Fletcher
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H.W. Plainview
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silver assay worker
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silver assay worker
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silver assay worker
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silver assay worker
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H.B. Ailman
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baby H.W.
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baby H.W.
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Prescott
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Signal Hill man
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Signal Hill married man
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Signal Hill woman
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Mr Bankside
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Mrs Bankside
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Mary Sunday
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Abel Sunday
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Mother Sunday
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Ruth Sunday
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Al Rose
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Gene Blaize
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Charlie Wrightsman
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geologist
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Ben Blaut
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Eli follower
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Eli follower
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Eli follower
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oil worker
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oil worker
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oil worker
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Mrs Hunter
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Elizabeth
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little Boston doctor
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H.M. Tilford
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J.J. Carter
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William Bandy
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L.P. Clair
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Bandy
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bartender
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Standard Oil man
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Standard Oil man
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Standard Oil man
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H.W.'s interpreter
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adult Mary Sunday
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adult H.W. Plainview
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priest
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Plainview servant
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Plainview servant
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[Howard Sommerville - scenes deleted]
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[Fannie Clark - scenes deleted]
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[Jake Coffey - scenes deleted]
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[Eli follower - scenes deleted]
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[Eli follower - scenes deleted]
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[oil worker - scenes deleted]
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[oil worker - scenes deleted]
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[oil worker - scenes deleted]
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[wrangler Lucas - scenes deleted]
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[town's person - scenes deleted]
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[barman - scenes deleted]
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[bar whore - scenes deleted]
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[H.W. interpreter - scenes deleted]
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[Union Oil man - scenes deleted]
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[local vixen's friend - scenes deleted]
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[local vixen - scenes deleted]
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Credits
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Direction:
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Directed by
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Assistant Director (1st)
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Assistant Director (2nd 2nd)
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Assistant Director (2nd)
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Assistant Director (2nd)
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Assistant Director (2nd)
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Script Supervisor
Production:
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©
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©
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Production Company
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Production Company
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Presents
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Presents
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Financing in part provided by
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[International Sales]
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Executive Producer
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Executive Producer
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Executive Producer
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Produced by
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Produced by
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Produced by
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Production Associate
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Production Associate
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Production Associate
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Unit Production Manager
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Production Supervisor
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Production Co-ordinator
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Production Co-ordinator (LA Unit)
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Production Accountant
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Location Manager
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Location Manager (LA Unit)
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Location Scout (LA Unit)
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Post-production Supervisor
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Post-production Supervisor
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'as Himself' [assistant to PT Anderson]
Casting:
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Casting
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Casting (Texas Additional)
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Casting (Voice)
Writing:
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Written for the Screen by
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Based on 'Oil!' by
Photography:
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Director of Photography
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Camera Operator
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Steadicam Operator
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1st Assistant Camera (A)
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1st Assistant Camera (B)
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2nd Assistant Camera (A)
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2nd Assistant Camera (B)
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Film Loader
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Chief Lighting Technician
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Key Grip
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Video Assist
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Video Assist
Stills:
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Still Photographer
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Still Photographer
Special Effects:
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Visual Effects by
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DB (Visual Effects Designer)
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DB (Visual Effects Supervisor)
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DB (CG Supervisor)
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DB (Visual Effects Producer)
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Visual Effects/Animation by
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ILM (Visual Effects Supervisor)
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ILM (Visual Effects Producer)
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ILM (Visual Effects Producer)
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ILM (Visual Effects Co-ordinator)
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Special Effects Co-ordinator
Editing:
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Film Editor
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Film Editor
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Additional Editing by
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Assistant Editor (1st)
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Assistant Editor (Dailies)
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Assistant Editor (2nd)
Design:
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Production Designer
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Art Director
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Art Department Co-ordinator
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Set Designer
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Set Designer (LA Unit)
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Set Decorator
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On-set Dresser
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Set Dresser
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Set Dresser
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Set Dresser
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Set Dresser
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Set Dresser (LA Unit)
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Set Dresser (LA Unit)
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Set Dresser (LA Unit)
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Set Dresser (LA Unit)
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Set Dresser (LA Unit)
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Set Dresser (LA Unit)
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Set Dresser (LA Unit)
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Set Dresser (LA Unit)
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Storyboard Artist
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Property Master
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Construction Co-ordinator
Costumes:
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Costume Designer
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Assistant Costume Designer
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Assistant Costume Designer (LA Unit)
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Costume Supervisor
Make-up:
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Make-up Department Head
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Make-up Artist
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Make-up Artist (LA Unit)
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Hair Department Head
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Hairstylist
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Hairstylist
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Key Hairstylist (LA Unit)
Titles:
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Title Design by
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Titles by
Film processing:
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Colour Timer
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Negative Cutter
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Opticals by
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Dollies Provided by
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Dollies Provided by
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Cranes Provided by
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Cranes Provided by
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Logo
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Colour by
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Filmed in
Music:
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Original Music by
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[Music] Performed by
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[Add'l Score] Performed by
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[The Emperor Quartet] (Violin)
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[The Emperor Quartet] (Violin)
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[The Emperor Quartet] (Viola)
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[The Emperor Quartet] (Cello)
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Piano Trios Performed by (Violin)
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Piano Trios Performed by (Cello)
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Piano Trios Performed by (Piano)
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[Music] Conducted by
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Music Supervisor
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Music Editor
Sound:
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Add'l Score Recorded/Mixed at
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[Music] Recorded by
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[Music] Mixed by
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Music Scored at
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[Add'l Score] Rec'd/Mixed/Engineered by
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Sound Designer
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Additional Sound Supervisor
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Sound Mixer
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Boom Operator
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Re-recording Mixer
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Re-recording Mixer
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Post-production Sound Services by
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Recordist
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Supervising Sound Editor
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Dialogue Editor
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Dialogue Editor
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Sound Effects Editor
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Sound Effects Editor
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Sound Effects Editor
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ADR Recordist
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ADR Mixer
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Foley Artist
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Foley Artist
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Foley Mixer
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Foley Editor
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Foley Editor
Stunts:
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Stunt Co-ordinator
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Stunt Co-ordinator
Consultant:
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Sound Consultant
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Dolby Sound Consultant
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Dedicated to
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Livestock Co-ordinator
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Livestock Co-ordinator (LA Unit)
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Animal Wrangler Foreperson
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Animal Wrangler
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Animal Wrangler
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Animal Wrangler
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Snake Wrangler
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