Continuity mistake: When Eli enters Daniel's office, as he goes to sit down his hand move from in his lap, to his side, then back again.
Continuity mistake: In the ending scene with Daniel and Eli, Daniel starts yelling at Eli as Eli is running down the bowling alley. As Daniel is throwing bowling balls at Eli, the first ball is thrown down the left lane, hits Eli in the foot and ends up in the right lane - no pins have fallen. The second ball is thrown down the left lane and is a gutter ball - again no pins have fallen. The third ball is thrown into the right lane, hits a bucket and presumably hits no pins. However, as Daniel is chasing Eli behind the bowling alley you can see that the left lane now shows only 2 pins still standing.
Continuity mistake: In the final scene, in the bowling room, Eli Sunday downs one of three drinks and sips on the second. He gets up, but in the next shot there are two empty glasses instead of one.
Chosen answer: Daniel Day-Lewis based his voice for and characterization of Daniel Plainview in part on old recordings of the director, writer, and actor John Huston. An article by Christopher Goodwin in the Sunday Times (of London) revealed Paul Thomas Anderson sent Day-Lewis documentaries about Huston while Day-Lewis was preparing to play the role.
Cnyvek
Just watched it. Sounds exactly like Huston in Chinatown.