Three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day Lewis is ending his retirement from acting to star in his son’s directorial debut. At 67 years old, the acclaimed British actor stepped back from the screen following his role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2017 film Phantom Thread and has mostly remained out of the public eye since then.
Day-Lewis is set to star in a film titled Anemone, directed his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, as confirmed US independent production company Focus Features. The film is currently being shot in Manchester and features a talented cast, including Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley, and Safia Oakley-Green.
The screenplay, co-written father and son, delves into the intricate relationships between fathers, sons, and brothers, exploring the dynamics of familial bonds.
Daniel Day Lewis made his acting debut as a teenager in Sunday Bloody Sunday, later gaining recognition for his remarkable performances in period dramas like The Last of the Mohicans. Known for his intense method acting, he has won three Best Actor Oscars for his roles as disabled Irish writer Christy Brown in My Left Foot, oil tycoon Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood, and President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.
In 2014, Day-Lewis was honored as a knight bachelor the Duke of Cambridge. He announced his retirement from acting in June 2017, just months before the release of Phantom Thread. A statement from his representative read, “Daniel Day Lewis will no longer be working as an actor… This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.”
Throughout his career, Day-Lewis has taken several extended breaks from the industry, including a period as an apprentice shoemaker in Florence during the 1990s. In a 2008 interview with the Observer, he shared, “My life as it is away from the movie set is a life where I follow my curiosity just as avidly as when I am working.”
Earlier this year, Day-Lewis presented renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese with an award for his latest western epic, Killers of the Flower Moon. Reflecting on their collaboration, he remarked that working with Scorsese has been “one of the greatest joys and unexpected privileges of my life.”
