Daniel Day-Lewis: The actor Leonardo DiCaprio called “phenomenal”
Hollywood icon Leonardo DiCaprio rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one of America’s most promising young actors following several spellbinding performances. Most notably, DiCaprio drew directors’ attention with his breakout roles in This Boy’s Life, in which he acted opposite Robert De Niro, and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, as he deftly portrayed Johnny Depp’s titular character’s mentally disabled brother.
By the turn of the millennium, DiCaprio was a major star but sought to distance himself from the romantic hero image attained by roles in Titanic and Romeo + Juliet. Following an appearance in Danny Boyle’s 2000 movie The Beach, DiCaprio fell under Martin Scorsese’s spotlight, courtesy of his This Boy’s Life co-star De Niro, just in time for 2002’s Gangs of New York.
“I got into this business because I worked with Robert De Niro, so I wanted to see everything he had ever done, and that led to this guy called Martin Scorsese that he had worked with a lot, and he is basically the greatest director around,” DiCaprio once told New York Foreign Press. “I became a huge fan of their movies, and ever since I was 16 years old, they have been my mentors, my icons and my heroes in the business.”
Although De Niro will always remain DiCaprio’s central icon in the industry, his pivotal first encounter with Scorsese enabled a similarly inspiring connection. In Gangs of New York, DiCaprio starred as Amsterdam, who looks to avenge the murder of his father, ‘Priest’ Velon. His nemesis throughout the movie is the fearsome gangster, William ‘Bill the Butcher’ Cutting, portrayed by British acting legend Daniel Day-Lewis.
The retired actor, famed for his roles in The Last of the Mohicans, There Will Be Blood and Lincoln, is famously a proponent of the controversial method acting approach. With unwavering commitment to his roles, Day-Lewis spent a month living in the North Carolina woods to prepare for his role in The Last of the Mohicans and trained as a butcher for Gangs of New York.
“I would have him over for dinner while we were shooting,” Scorsese recalled of working with Day-Lewis per The Guardian. “And even though he’d be in modern clothes, it would still be very much like Bill might dress. Off-camera or on the telephone, I’d always feel like I was talking to Bill, although he also has an override mechanism in which he can talk about the part.”
DiCaprio also remembered Day-Lewis as a fiercely committed method actor. “It was like two days before we started shooting,” he explained. “We’d be saying, ‘Hi, Daniel. Hi, Marty [Scorsese]. Good morning. Stuff like that.’ Then [on the first day of shooting] I said, ‘Morning Danny!’ And then he went, ‘Umph’ [in a derisive tone]. And I said, ‘Oh shit. Game on!”
“I don’t think I said another word to him through that nine months that we were there. You know, he was Bill the Butcher, and that was it,” DiCaprio added.
Although many actors bemoan the unsettling and intrusive nature of method acting, DiCaprio had only admiration for Day-Lewis’ talent. “He was just phenomenal and in character all the time,” he said. “And again, I think that, as an actor, being able to witness that and seeing the sort of heights of commitment like that was another stage of learning for me. There’s commitment, and then there’s Daniel Day-Lewis.”
“It was only until the last day of reshoots that we kind of looked at each other and laughed, you know, and like, cracked a smile,” he added.
