Dillon Freasier has one of those incredible legendary Hollywood stories that doesn’t happen often. A speeding ticket given to a casting director and a nice talk afterwards between that director and the police officer provided the chance of a lifetime to this local Texas kid in appearing in Paul Thomas Anderson’s monumental film There Will Be Blood (2007). The officer was nothing less than Dillon Freasier’s mother and the casting director had the chance to see the kid and wanted to cast him in the film, but the mother wasn’t so sure she wanted her son to appear in a movie and didn’t even know who was Daniel Day-Lewis, the leading actor who would be sharing most of the scenes with Dillon. Since Day-Lewis previous success was Gangs of New York (2002), the casting director provided a copy of that film to the mother. She was appalled in seeing such an intense and dangerous performance and couldn’t imagine such man acting along her beloved kid. The film’s team rushed in sending another film with Day-Lewis, the acclaimed The Age of Innocence (1993), where he played an educated gentleman, and that role convinced her in allowing Dillon to be part of Anderson’s project.
Freasier was an elementary student in West Texas, with no previous acting experience but turned out to be a perfect choice for the role Anderson needed. Despite being unfamiliar with acting in front of cameras and specially along with one of the most respected actors of all time, Freasier succeed in a great way. As HW Plainview, the adopted son of oilman Daniel Plainview, the young star captivated audiences with his quiet, magnetic, intelligent presence and timing both in small moments or in more difficult sequences, specially the ones where he could only use his expressions and no sound to convey his emotions. The movie was a hit, received several award nominations and won two Academy Awards. Dillon earned nominations as Best Young Actor in two different awards (Young Artist Awards and the Online Film & Television Association).
Not much is known about his whereabouts or current line of work but it’s quite certain that many audience await for his return to the big screen.
