While doing press for the film, Daniel Day Lewis talked to the media about his own preparation process, what drew him to the script, what it takes to achieve power, and the special qualities that make Paul Thomas Anderson a unique director.

Daniel Day Lewis on whether he feels the more difficult a project, the more rewarding it is:

"In my recollection, I don't feel that anything has been more or less difficult. You can't really compare one thing to another. You know, the intention is always the same, trying to savor a life in its entirety or to at least create for yourself the illusion that you have, which might give you some chance to convincing other people of it [laughs]. It's the same thing each time. It requires totally different work in the process of achieving that. You begin from scratch each time. You are just a baby every time you start again."

Lewis on how he prepares as compared to other actors:

"I choose not to. I prefer not to know how my colleagues arrive at what stage. I don't need to know. As long as it is a recognizable human being; thinking and feeling and listening and talking. If you are face-to-face with that, you don't need to know the rest."

On how people admire his dedication to the craft:

"But I haven't! But I would say that, essentially, you know it always makes it sound as if it is a science or something, which of course it isn't. It's just a kind of... you just splash around in the mud and hope that you find things. But, essentially, most of what you are doing in any form of conscious, preparation is only useful in as far as it allows to the unconscious or the animal freedom of movement and expression. So I think for every performance, maybe in different ways, the animal of course is the most important part of them."

On what drew him to the script:

"I don't know, I don't actually know. I don't question it, I know when I feel irreparably drawn to something as opposed to something else. I sometimes take a step backwards to try to access whether I generally feel like I can be useful in telling that story. Sometimes I really feel I can't be, but once drawn in, I have no option but to follow that path, and I really don't question why it is I need that at that particular moment, or it needs me. I just don't know! It's not interesting to me to ask that question."

Day Lewis on how the scope of the Western landscape draws out character and how the land contributes to creating characters:

"Yes, I think that played a large part of it. How to know whether there was some seed of self destruction already in most of those guys because, after all, they often left very, very good lives behind them in the fever. And I suppose that... is what it is. They have something in common it would be the fever - for my work it takes me as, opposed to something else, but it is, essentially, it is a kind of mining work in that it's dark and sometimes unrewarding, but it's absolutely compelling. But I think the physical world that they were in, and certainly the solitude before they gathered enough money to work with a small crew, the solitude probably would have played a great part in defining their character. They were all different. They all came from different worlds. They left behind all kinds of different lives to pursue that crazy."

On whether money and power corrupts people:

"[laughs] That's what they say, isn't it? Not everybody I suppose. The misuse of power corrupts people, not power necessarily corrupts people. I suppose it's a temptation."

Daniel Day Lewis Talks There Will Be Blood Page 2