The Hat From "There Will Be Blood"?

[eniksleestack]

So I just watched the film There Will Be Blood again tonight and I forgot how enamored I was by Daniel Day Lewis's (aka Daniel Plainview's) hat:

Anyone know what the style is and where I might be able to obtain one? It looks sort of like a pre-WW1 campaign hat, but with a rolled brim and much more style.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Magus]

Hmmm I just noticed something! It looks like Mr. Lewis might have been sneaking peeks at my Great Uncle Who was the Gov. of Oaklahoma when he came up with his look.

 

[DOUGLAS]

Magnus,that hat looks an awful like this Stetson.

Do you know what year the photo is? Your Great Uncle had wonderful taste in hats.

 

[shortbow]

Yep, I took it for a Boss of the Plains when I saw that flick. Douglas do you own that hat? You lucky dog....:eusa_clap

 

[Magus]

Do you know what year the photo is? Your Great Uncle had wonderful taste in hats.

Well I don't want to hijack the thread...lol. But Lewis just had such a striking resemblance to Great Uncle Bill I had to post it. I believe the photo was taken when he was Gov. of OK around 1930, he helped move the territory into the Union around 1906, but this photo seems later judging by his appearent age.

A Plains Boss hat would fit the character that Lewis was portraying to a tee.

 

[johnnycanuck]

I think the Campdraft brim is a little short for that hat. Maybe "Boss of the Plains" http://www.everythingaustralian.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=36&ccode=1290&cat_id=2 no bound brim edge though. Maybe a Nigeria Brown Squatter http://www.everythingaustralian.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=20&ccode=1200&cat_id=2 You may have to go custom for an exact copy.
Johnny

 

[Dinerman]

as I recall, the hat in the movie has a brim with a heavily flanged brim; not a curl, mind you, but something with a soup bowl effect. I've only seen this kind of brim on one hat in person, a '50s Bee western, but the rest of the hat was entirely different.

 

[johnnyphi]

Homberg with very wide brim...

as I recall, the hat in the movie has a brim with a heavily flanged brim; not a curl, mind you, but something with a soup bowl effect. I've only seen this kind of brim on one hat in person, a '50s Bee western, but the rest of the hat was entirely different.

I was impressed by this hat, too.

To me, it looked like an extremely wide brimmed Homberg, which seemed like a logical choice for a wealthy oil-man from the turn of the century, if he was spending lots of time in the field. (It's almost the opposite of the Stetson "Open Road", which was a mini-Cowboy hat for country businessmen.)

In this case, the hat has the aesthetics of a Homberg with the functionality of a sombrero.

This wide-brimmed Homberg from my stash has a similar feel. It's obviously younger, but it is in the same ballpark.

 

[TimBer]

Alfalfa Bill

If your Great Uncle was Alfalfa Bill, I'm guessing the picture is circa 1940. Thank you for sharing this great photo. I love the vest, tie tucked into his shirt and his coat, not to mention the hat.

 

[johnnyphi]

Link to the website...

This is an amazing film. You should see it if you haven't. Here's a link to the movie's website: http://www.therewillbeblood.com/ Lots of footage of "the hat", and much more of the incredible vintage threads found in this film.

I'm no cinema critic, but I think it is symbolic that he wears the same hat throughout the entire film.

So I just watched the film There Will Be Blood again tonight and I forgot how enamored I was by Daniel Day Lewis's (aka Daniel Plainview's) hat:

Anyone know what the style is and where I might be able to obtain one? It looks sort of like a pre-WW1 campaign hat, but with a rolled brim and much more style.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

... great hat... as great (as in "monumental" acting by DDL) as the movie.

Douglas, I have a similar (mine is nutria) Boss Raw Edge hat, except mine might, by some, be considered rather preposterous for it's effete Hollywood "largesse" in style (as opposed to "rough rider" macho earthiness of the movie, the wearer and ...the hat in question).

 

[Mr. Rover]

Hmmm I just noticed something! It looks like Mr. Lewis might have been sneaking peeks at my Great Uncle Who was the Gov. of Oaklahoma when he came up with his look.

I can't imagine this guy saying, "I drink your milkshake. I drink it up."

Just doesn't work.

 

[DanielJones]

I'm going to try to do something similar to that with an existing campaign hat that I have. the brim may be a little too thick to curl the brim like that but maybe I can get it soft enough to do something with. I just need a decent ribbon material to locate for the ribbon & bow.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Michael Bonner]

Lookie here...

how 'bout this one?

http://www.doublehhats.com/hats/026.htm

 

[JohnTheHat]

It is a wasey
http://www.thelastbestwest.com/old_west_cowboy_hats.htm

 

[Justdog]

Plainview

Had a "Plainview" made in navy. Did not like it and it was a bigg mistake.
I agree with the Akubra suggestions as they are economical and will not come with buyers regret. Also there are a lot of loungers who wear Akubras and the quality issue pound for pound is pretty good. I won this and it definatelty satisfies my Plainview craving What seems to be the telling feature is the flange. There is a lounger who had one made and was selling it.

.

 

[Meterman]

Plainview

Had a "Plainview" made in navy. Did not like it and it was a bigg mistake.
I agree with the Akubra suggestions as they are economical and will not come with buyers regret. Also there are a lot of loungers who wear Akubras and the quality issue pound for pound is pretty good. I won this and it definatelty satisfies my Plainview craving What seems to be the telling feature is the flange. There is a lounger who had one made and was selling it.

.

What exactly was wrong with your Plainview? Was it the quality, or the color?

 

[Michael R.]

I wondered that ,too . Looks Great to me . I know there are a lot of custom hatters that do and can make movie hats . I know on Buffalo NY there's a guy , seems like his shop is just called Custom Hats or Hatters , but I'll look , its custom-hatter.com , he did the Hats for Boardwalk Empire . The Movie that just came out on Hank Williams , the Hats were done by buckaroohatters.com in Covington TN , Mike Moore ,. And http://thelastbestwest.com makes all kinds , pretty expensive , but they make all and any movie hats and do it well . Here's the Daniel Plainview "There Will Be Blood" Hat ...
previous

I think its in the Dress Hat section . But you can get any Hat in any color , etc. Great Web Site , too . I know others can do whatever a person wants , too . stakerhats.com do some , too , in Utah . randhats.com does too , I'm sure , in Billings MT .

 

[jdouglasj]

I came across an interview with costume designer Mark Bridges, for the film There Will Be Blood where he discussed the famous hat worn by Daniel Day Lewis. Lewis was the one who picked out the hat, not Bridges. Lewis selected three vintage hats that a local costume rental company had in stock and he wore them around for days, in costume, trying to decide which hat was the best fit for the character.

I have been looking for that hat for years, and there are a number of hat companies that have attempted to make a Plainview, but no one has yet pulled it off. Baron Hats came closer than anyone else (when I called him some months ago, he said he is no longer making the hat), but even his attempt was pretty far off the mark. Here is a profile of DDL wearing the hat and a profile of the Baron Hats version:

and here are two shots looking head-on:

Looking head-on, the hat looks very much like a campaign or park ranger hat. But it looks like a totally different hat in profile.

Watson's Hats recently tried to recreate the Plainview for me, and while I like the hat a great deal, they weren't able to match the hat from the movie.

Most of the replicas I've seen (including my own hat) don't get the profile right. The front and back of the hat in profile view are fairly steep, whereas the profile of my hat and others are angled in more towards the center. And I just haven't seen anyone who nailed the flange on the brim. The pinch on my hat is closer to the original than anything else I've seen, but even mine is far from a match.

I know hatters don't like customers who say "I want a hat exactly like the one in the movie," and I understand the various reasons why they don't want to hear that. But this gets to the point of my post....

In that Mark Bridges interview he noted that they only had that one hat for the whole movie. As I said earlier, that hat wasn't made for Lewis; he just found it at a costume rental shop. They wanted backups of the hat, and so they handed the rental hat to a couple hat makers to have them reproduce it, but none of the reproductions was a suitable match, which got me to wondering, "how hard is it to make a hat?" It's one thing to look at a photo and fail to hit the target, but I was surprised to hear that a hat maker with a more or less unlimited budget and with the target hat in hand still couldn't make a suitable reproduction.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I came across an interview with costume designer Mark Bridges, for the film There Will Be Blood where he discussed the famous hat worn by Daniel Day Lewis. Lewis was the one who picked out the hat, not Bridges. Lewis selected three vintage hats that a local costume rental company had in stock and he wore them around for days, in costume, trying to decide which hat was the best fit for the character.

I have been looking for that hat for years, and there are a number of hat companies that have attempted to make a Plainview, but no one has yet pulled it off. Baron Hats came closer than anyone else (when I called him some months ago, he said he is no longer making the hat), but even his attempt was pretty far off the mark. Here is a profile of DDL wearing the hat and a profile of the Baron Hats version:
View attachment 307525 View attachment 307526

and here are two shots looking head-on:

View attachment 307527 View attachment 307530

Looking head-on, the hat looks very much like a campaign or park ranger hat. But it looks like a totally different hat in profile.

Watson's Hats recently tried to recreate the Plainview for me, and while I like the hat a great deal, they weren't able to match the hat from the movie.

Most of the replicas I've seen (including my own hat) don't get the profile right. The front and back of the hat in profile view are fairly steep, whereas the profile of my hat and others are angled in more towards the center. And I just haven't seen anyone who nailed the flange on the brim. The pinch on my hat is closer to the original than anything else I've seen, but even mine is far from a match.

I know hatters don't like customers who say "I want a hat exactly like the one in the movie," and I understand the various reasons why they don't want to hear that. But this gets to the point of my post....

In that Mark Bridges interview he noted that they only had that one hat for the whole movie. As I said earlier, that hat wasn't made for Lewis; he just found it at a costume rental shop. They wanted backups of the hat, and so they handed the rental hat to a couple hat makers to have them reproduce it, but none of the reproductions was a suitable match, which got me to wondering, "how hard is it to make a hat?" It's one thing to look at a photo and fail to hit the target, but I was surprised to hear that a hat maker with a more or less unlimited budget and with the target hat in hand still couldn't make a suitable reproduction.

I don’t get why they had all the difficulties. To me, it looks like a pretty standard wide brim modest crown fedora. The crease is just a matter of working the felt until it’s how you like it. I’d think that it would be important to have thin and easily shaped felt, but other than that I don’t understand the problem. It is a fairly deep flange, but that’s just a matter of the hatter having the right flange.

The hat you’re trying to recreate is as much a product of the years it’s been worn and grabbed and thrown around as how it was made. Having quality, not overly stiff, felt is crucial. Proportions also play into it as it’s not just the hat; it’s also the wearer. I’m thinking of all the trouble the Raiders of the Lost Ark fans have getting what they consider a screen accurate hat of the world’s most famous fedora.

I haven’t made a hat myself. I’ve been told it’s something you can learn to do in a couple hours and that will take decades to master.