P.T. Anderson Reveals Origins of I Drink Your Milkshake
Last week for Open Forum Friday I asked what movie characters people were most sick of hearing quoted (not too surprisingly, Borat turned out to be the highest vote-getter). Now, although it wasn’t an option in the poll, in the comments I suggested that the “I Drink Your Milkshake… I Drink It Up” line from P.T. Anderson’s There Will Be Blood was also getting a bit out of hand.
Anyone who doubts the viral nature of this quote need only venture out into the blogosphere to see it being referenced pretty much everywhere… even from people who may not yet have seen the film. For example, Rolling Stone writer Peter Travers recently referred to the Super Bowl weekend box office thusly: “While you were partying and watching the Giants drink the Patriots milkshake, chick flicks took over the weekend box-office”. There is now a fansite dedicated to the film at www.idrinkyourmilkshake.com, and a plethora of I Drink Your Milkshake merchandise for sale out there on the web, with more soon to come, no doubt.
But here’s the interesting bit. According to an article in USA Today, P.T. Anderson did not dream up this amusing line of dialogue all on his own. In fact, the quote actually has its roots in a historical document related to a 1924 congressional hearing over oil-drilling rights. In the hearing, Sen. Albert Fall actually explains the concept of drainage using the exact same metaphor. “I just took this insane concept and used it,” explains Anderson.
Classic stuff. So there’s your movie trivia for the day… now if you’ll excuse me I must go order this I Drink Your Milkshake t-shirt for my dog.
Comments (9)
It is getting waaay out of hand actually. When it creeps into a sports metaphor, all is lost!
Funny though with all the other elements going on in the film, I didn’t immediately recall that bit (dramatic as it is coming at the films ‘climax’)…but I seem to encounter it everywhere…oi!
Posted by kurt on February 11th, 2008I only visit a few blogs, so I never thought the quote was ever popular. I did hear one of the ESPN newscasters use it tonight though.
I don’t think this will ruin the scene for me because I thought that line was already humorous.
Posted by Primal on February 12th, 2008Wow the net has stopped being about brevity. If anything I would have thought that “drainage … DRAINAGE!” would have been the go to meme or whatever.
Posted by Ian on February 12th, 2008How am I going to enjoy this movie now? All I’ll be waiting for is this line. Damned internet!
Posted by Henrik on February 12th, 2008At first I thought it was disappointing that that line became the catchphrase from the film because it’s one of the more ridiculous parts of the movie, but I’ve come to embrace it because the fan-generated macros and other content based on it are absolutely hysterical and it’s not getting old.
Posted by Liz on February 12th, 2008Indeed, I think the broad parodies of the line will undercut the scene at the end of the film.
It’s the sheer earnestness of P.T. Anderson which likely will generate parodies of his filmography at one point or another. The man brings a force of will to his creations and the world of film is better for it.
That being said, get thee to a multiplex and catch TWBB before this little catchphrase gets waaay outside of the internet and becomes really annoying!
Posted by Kurt on February 12th, 2008Sounds like he is threatening to slurp up another mans goo. Is this a Will and Grace type of movie? A friend of mine used to say to girls in bars “Free Milkshake … you make it”
That is why when I saw people wearing shirts that had this phrase printed on it I thought you should only wear it to cruisy locations.
Remember if 19 Tequilas do not get the taste out of your mouth 20 will not either.
On the whole there is not much glory in this phrase. Its a very cruisy catchphrase. Know what I meme?
Posted by Freemon Sandlewould on September 20th, 2008I’m surprised Anderson didn’t reference this industrial film:
http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/shells-eureka-film-utter-green-002574.php
Posted by Editz on September 28th, 2008All of this talk about the phrase being “everywhere” is weird. Only after doing a bit of research after watching the movie for this first time a couple days ago did I ever learn it was such a prevalent meme. It’s not like I’m an internet troglodyte either. I see these are mostly old posts. Maybe it came and went so quickly that I blinked and missed it.
Posted by evan on December 19th, 2008Leave a Reply