Daniel Day-Lewis was so intense in one role that he scared his co-star off set
Daniel Day-Lewis has largely been heralded as one of the greatest living actors of all time, known for his sometimes terrifying commitment to immersing himself in each character, saying that in order to play someone, he needs to truly understand them. This has led him to do many strange things in the name of art and honesty, from going to prison, breaking a rib, refusing to leave a wheelchair and learning Czech, Day-Lewis has experienced a dizzying number of personality changes which have, unsurprisingly, ruffled a few feathers over the years.
Day-Lewis is perhaps most remembered for his role as Daniel Plainview in Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, an epic tale about the rise and fall of one man against the backdrop of the burgeoning oil industry at the start of the 20th century. It’s a story of madness, greed and corruption, with Day-Lewis’ character going to drastic lengths to pursue the American dream, willing to sacrifice anything or anyone that stands in his way.
But Day-Lewis is controversially known for this role partly because of the infamous on-set stories that highlight the extreme lengths that the actor will go to to quench his own curiosity, a technique that even caused one of his co-stars to quit the project entirely.
It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Paul Dano in the role of Eli Sunday, but originally, the role went to another actor called Kel O’Neill. However, too intimidated by the intensity of Day-Lewis’ method, O’Neill was replaced by Dano. It is easy to see why. Being screamed at by Day-Lewis seems as close as you can get to an exorcism, and my hat comes off to Dano for being able to stand his ground after only having four days to prepare for the sudden role change.
O’Neill later stated that his dismissal from the project was by no means the fault of Day-Lewis, but due to his own shortcomings. It’s another one of those butterfly effect moments in cinema where you imagine an alternate reality in which something so seminal did not exist, especially given the chemistry between Dano and Day-Lewis that feels impossible to disentangle from the film’s legacy. One door closed for O’Neill, and film history was made somewhere else. Thomas Anderson later spoke about how he wrote the role for Day-Lewis despite having never met him, another fate-like moment in which someone is able to fulfill a vision that feels so distant from reality.
Besides scaring O’Neill away from the set, Day-Lewis also threw real bowling balls at Dano during the infamous milkshake scene. Dano later explained that when one of them hit his leg, he realised they were real, quickly ducking as more were hurled at him with surprising conviction. Day-Lewis would also read old letters and diaries from oilmen of the time to prepare himself for the role, trying to understand the mentality and strength that it took to work in this profession.
After Day-Lewis famously retired from acting in 2017, filmmakers and movie lovers alike were shocked to hear that he would return to the screen in his son Ronan’s debut feature film Anemone. Whilst the plot is being kept under lock and key, with the story being loosely described as being about familial relationships between men of different generations, everyone is waiting with bated breath to see what Day-Lewis does next and whether he’ll continue with the style that has defined his staggering and completely intoxicating screen presence.
