There will be gold

Martin Stringer and his family were watching the Oscars closely Sunday night, knowing they all played a part in one of the nominees for Best Picture.

“All of us did extra parts in ‘There Will Be Blood,’ ” Martin Stringer, owner of Martin’s Fine Jewelry, said. “It was like a family thing for us. We all had parts, and that was pretty neat knowing we were in it as a family.”

Martin Stringer said he first got involved in the project when his early 19th- and 20th-century maps caught the eye of people working with movie producers.

“I deal in historical artifacts and someone from the movie was looking for area maps in the Big Bend area,” he said. “I sold them quite a number of items from that time. Anytime you see a map in the movie, most likely it came from me.”

“People from the movie also bought a watch chain from me, and I fixed it where it could be worn in a number of fashions,” he said. “I helped out with the historical accuracy of the movie, sold props and even was an extra — so that was pretty cool.”

Martin wasn’t the only Stringer who became a “Blood” brother. His 22-year-old son, Jacob, was a stand-in for Daniel Day-Lewis’ character.

“They dressed me up like Daniel, and I stood in all the spots he stood in so they could get the lighting right,” Jacob Stringer said. “I did that for about two weeks. It was pretty neat since I said all his lines and stood in all the same spots so it’d be ready for Daniel Day-Lewis to do the scene.”

The Stringer clan said they knew very little about the movie during the filming, much of which was done in the Marfa area.

“It’s amazing how a movie comes together from filming to editing,” Sherrie Stringer said. “We all really didn’t know what the movie was about until we saw it in theaters.”

Sherrie and her 17-year-old son, Matthew Stringer, were both involved in a train scene, rounding out the family film affair.

In one sense, Sunday was a twin bill for the Stringers.

In addition to ‘There Will Be Blood,’ Martin Stringer also helped out a bit with another Best Picture nominee. When Josh Brolin of ‘No Country for Old Men’ was trying to find the right accent for his Llewelyn Moss character, Martin Stringer was called for some advice.

“Josh called me later on the phone and said he heard some of my oilfield sayings and my accent and said it would help out his character,” he said. “I talked to him for a couple of hours and gave him Texas lessons.”

For his work, Martin Stringer received an autographed picture from Brolin.

Since the film, the Stringer family is back to working their normal jobs at the jewelry store, but Martin Stringer said he doesn’t want to retire his actor’s chair just yet.

“If there’s a chance to be in another movie, I’d do it,” Martin Stringer said. “If the shooting wasn’t too long, I’m pretty sure the family and I would do it if asked. It was a great experience.”