Daniel Day-Lewis is back — though, he never really meant to go anywhere.
Often hailed as one of the greatest actors of all time, Day-Lewis has spent eight years away from the screen in what he once referred to as a retirement. Following this post-“Phantom Thread” gap, he has now returned in “Anemone,” a new drama directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. In talking about the film to The New York Times, Daniel said he never really intended for “Phantom Thread” to be a permanent swan song.
“The sanctuary [of acting] is necessary, nothing has changed,” he said in the Friday piece. “When I made that daft [expletive] statement and said I wasn’t going to work as an actor anymore — and believe me, I was advised against making it by family and friends — I was at a very low ebb. Not because of the work that I’d just done, but because of those doubts about my capacity to be part of that public world, which seemed more vivid than ever. So I thought, ‘I need to make a statement to myself.’ I was really talking to myself: ‘Don’t do this again.’”
When audiences last saw Daniel Day-Lewis on the screen, it was as dressmaker-turned-infirmed-lover Reynolds Woodcock in “Phantom Thread,” the eighth feature by “One Battle After Another” writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson. The 2017 film quickly became a critical darling, eventually becoming a late-breaking awards contender with a handful of surprise Oscar nominations. Daniel, who had already won the Best Actor statue thrice, received a sixth nomination in the category (his second for an Anderson movie following his “There Will Be Blood” win). But awards campaigns can prove tiring for those wishing to stay relatively away from the spotlight.
“It sounds like the moaning of privilege, and I can see that. I do feel immensely privileged to be allowed to do my work as an actor, and I understand the invisible contract you sign when you agree to do that work is that you are going to participate in the entirety of what that will involve. But I have never yet found a way of living with the public aspects of it,” Daniel said. “But I’d still rather face up to that than deny myself the chance to work with my son.”
Audiences had previously felt the actor’s absence before, however. After winning an Oscar for playing the famed president at the center of Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” Daniel took five years away from the screen before he reunited with Anderson. The actor similarly stepped away for a time after starring in 1997’s “The Boxer,” ultimately appearing in Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” in 2002.
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned, this time to work with his son. In “Anemone,” the actor plays an ex-soldier whose brother (played by Sean Bean) arrives to ask that he returns from a life of solitude in the midst of a family emergency. “Anemone” also marks the first time Daniel has received a screenwriting credit on a film, serving as co-writer with his son on Ronan’s directorial debut.
“I’m proud to have had that time with my son to do this work,” Daniel said. “It’s his first time in the park with this, so his nerves are frayed and my nerves are frayed for different reasons, but we’ll go through this part of the process together and we’ll do it with tremendous gratitude because I’m very, very glad that we were allowed this opportunity. And I know that in a few months’ time, I’ll be looking for my quiet place again.”
