Three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is ending his retirement from acting to star in his son’s directorial debut. The 67-year-old British actor quit acting after starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2017 film Phantom Thread, and has largely stayed out of public life since.
But he is now set to star in a film titled Anemone, directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis, US independent production company Focus Features confirmed on Tuesday. The film will feature actors including Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley and Safia Oakley-Green, and is currently shooting in Manchester.
Daniel Day-Lewis made his screen debut as a teenager in Sunday Bloody Sunday before moving on to a number of memorable period drama roles, including as Hawkeye in The Last Of The Mohicans. He is known for his dedication to method acting, and has won three best actor Oscars, for playing disabled Irish writer Christy Brown in My Left Foot, oil man Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood and Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.
Day-Lewis was made a knight bachelor of the British empire by the Duke of Cambridge in 2014. In June 2017 it was announced he was retiring from acting, months before Phantom Thread was released.
“Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor,” the statement, issued by his representative, read. “He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.”
He had previously taken extended breaks from the industry, including a stint working as an apprentice shoemaker in Florence in the 1990s. “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,” he told the Observer in 2008. “It is with a very positive sense that I keep away from the work for a while. It has always seemed natural to me that that, in turn, should help me in the work that I do.”
In January, Day-Lewis presented US film-maker Martin Scorsese with an award for his western epic Killers of the Flower Moon. The actor, who starred in Scorsese’s Gangs Of New York and The Age Of Innocence, said working with the director was “one of the greatest joys and unexpected privileges of my life”.
What Makes Anemone So Special?
The film is described as exploring the “intricate relationships between fathers, sons and brothers, and the dynamics of familial bonds.” Ronan Day-Lewis, 26, is a painter and filmmaker. This is his first feature film, according to a statement from Focus Features, which is making the film with production company Plan B. In a statement, Focus Features Chairman Peter Kujawski said, “We could not be more excited to partner with a brilliant visual artist in Ronan Day-Lewis on his first feature film alongside Daniel Day-Lewis as his creative collaborator. They have written a truly exceptional script, and we look forward to bringing their shared vision to audiences alongside the team at Plan B.”
A Second Retirement, A Second Return?
This isn't the first time Daniel Day-Lewis has ended a hiatus from film work. He has spoken about having a perennial desire to stop acting — and in the late 1990s, he took a break to become an apprentice to a renowned shoemaker in Italy. In 2017, he issued his retirement notice in hopes of it lasting. “I didn’t want to get sucked back into another project,” he told W magazine in a rare interview about the decision. “All my life, I’ve mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don’t know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do.”
Daniel Day-Lewis’s long absence from film has fuelled speculation about his return. But it seems that the allure of working with his son was too strong to resist. “Anemone” will be a film that will undoubtedly be watched with keen interest by film fans worldwide. And it will be a chance for Daniel Day-Lewis to once again showcase his unparalleled talent and prove that he is still one of the most powerful actors of our time.
The Day-Lewis Legacy
Daniel Day-Lewis’s career is studded with iconic roles and awards, including three Oscars for My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood, and Lincoln. His commitment to method acting, which has often seen him disappear entirely into his roles, has earned him a reputation as one of the most dedicated actors of his generation. His decision to return to acting, and specifically to work with his son, is a testament to his passion for his craft and his unwavering commitment to his family. The prospect of seeing the Day-Lewis father-son duo collaborating on a film that explores the complexities of family relationships is both exciting and intriguing. Fans of both Daniel and Ronan Day-Lewis are eagerly awaiting the release of Anemone to see how the dynamic father-son duo have brought their shared vision to life on screen.
