Why "the greatest actor of our day" worked as a shoemaker and how he won a record number of "Oscars": Daniel Day-Lewis

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Most often, a sign of the demand for an actor is an extensive filmography, however, Daniel Day-Lewis always chose the latter between quantity and quality, therefore, for almost half a century of his career, he starred in only twenty films. Repeatedly he was going to leave this difficult profession, once he even left for Italy and lived for several years in complete obscurity, working as a shoemaker, until he returned. However, this particular man is often called "the greatest actor of our day", and a record three Oscars for Best Actor confirm this assessment. The stories about how seriously Day-Lewis takes the preparation of each look are legends.

Daniel Day-Lewis was born in 1957 in London into the family of a renowned writer and famous actress. It is easy to imagine that the boy grew up developed and sensitive. However, the parents, each busy with his own creativity, probably did not pay due attention to the child, as a result of which the future Oscar winner received his first acting lessons on the street. According to the actor, he looked too decent in his youth, and spoke too correctly:

"Reincarnation" in the role of a bully so captivated Daniel that a few years later he was even kicked out of school, and his parents did not think of anything better than to send their son to a boarding school for difficult teenagers. It was there that he first appeared in front of the camera - he starred in the crowd as a street bandit:

However, before coming to an understanding of his vocation, the young hooligan still had a period of "creative crisis" - in a fit of youthful nihilism, to spite his parents, he decided to choose the profession of a carpenter, but fate decreed otherwise. For some reason he was not admitted to the technical college, but at the theater institute, where the failed master went out of grief, he was offered at the exam:

Four years later, critics began talking about Day-Lewis as the discovery of the year and the most promising actor of his generation. Very quickly they began to offer him the main roles, and the first serious film was the film "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", which was released in 1988. And literally a year later, he was immediately expected to receive two highest awards from well-deserved film academies: British (BAFTA) and American (Oscar). In the film "My Left Leg", having reincarnated as a patient with cerebral palsy, the actor for the first time really showed what he is capable of, and also demonstrated his "special approach" to work.

The actor spent many days at the Sandymount School Clinic, communicating with people with disabilities. He really mastered the sad science of life in a wheelchair, and for the time of filming, he completely reincarnated as a paralyzed person. After the command "Cut!" Day-Lewis continued to be in the role - for several months he voluntarily chained himself to a wheelchair and, rumor has it, even broke two ribs, once bending too much in an uncomfortable position.

The next film - the adaptation of Fenimore Cooper's novel "The Last of the Mohicans" - became the complete opposite of the previous one. The actor was in no hurry with a new job and approached the future image only three years later, however, this time he took the preparation no less seriously. Now he built up muscle mass and, like a real Hawkeye, learned to live in harmony with nature, going on long hikes. Even the actor did not part with the rifle and acquired an unusual skill for a Londoner - he mastered the skinning of animals.

In the future, no one was surprised when Day-Lewis temporarily settled in a prison cell, demanded to subject himself to a 9-hour interrogation and insisted that the entire film crew insulted him between filming - this is how the actor got used to the role of an Irishman unjustly accused of terrorism (film "In the name of the father"); for two months he wore aristocratic clothes of the 19th century ("The Age of Innocence"); worked as a butcher in one of the butcher shops in London ("Gangs of New York") well, or simply demanded that he be addressed only as "Mr. President", because it would be ridiculous to hear anything else from those around you if you are Abraham Lincoln (film "Lincoln", 2011).

All creative people need a sabbatical. For those who are too talented, it can last for several years - this is exactly the break in work that the famous Oscar-winner arranged for himself, having fled from the whole world to Italy. There he lived in complete secrecy, reliably reincarnated as an ordinary person and fed on the labor of a shoemaker, but then he returned to the cinema.

Now, having starred for the last time in 2017 (the film "Phantom Thread"), one of the greatest actors of our time has once again retired. He leads a secluded life, almost without giving interviews and rarely appearing in public. True, he did not run away from the world - it is known that he lives alternately in America, then in Ireland, and still keeps his word. Although no one can guarantee that after a while Daniel Day-Lewis will not appear again at the cinema olympus, will perform another acting feat and receive many more prestigious awards for him.

(Daniel Day-Lewis)

It is interesting that, despite the jewelry acting, the films in which Daniel Day-Lewis shone were never among the highest grossing Hollywood films in the history of cinema.