How many times has Daniel Day-Lewis quit acting?
Out of every actor who has emerged in the past few decades, only a small handful have been labeled as true masters of their craft, and Daniel Day-Lewis is one of them. He is seen as one of the greats of the greats; if he were born in the early 1900s, he perhaps would’ve been held in the same esteem as someone like James Stewart (even if their acting styles were rather different).
He’s a silver screen legend, so often opting for challenging roles that have forced him to embody a character with his whole being. Day-Lewis has become known for his method acting, although many other stars have disagreed with his approach, with some finding it simply too selfish and demanding. You can’t deny that his approach works, however, and Day-Lewis has earned three Oscars in his career, making him one of the most successful Academy Award-winning actors of all time.
Proving himself from the very beginning with a complex role as a former right-wing extremist who begins a homosexual and interracial relationship in My Beautiful Laundrette, Day-Lewis soon moved between period dramas and epic tales of war and disaster, never failing to command the screen with his unforgettable presence.
Yet, in 2017, he announced that he was retiring from acting, claiming that Phantom Thread would be his last role. He gave a terrific performance as Woodcock, the difficult and short-tempered dress designer whose relationship with a younger woman named Alma, someone he at first sees as nothing more than a submissive muse, leads to the destruction of his orderly life. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, whom he’d worked with previously on There Will Be Blood – which remains one of his greatest performances – Phantom Thread seemed like the perfect note to end his career on.
That’s until images of Day-Lewis riding a motorcycle on the set of a new film, soon revealed to be his son Ronan Day-Lewis’ directorial debut, Anemone, began to surface. It was announced that the actor would not only be starring in his son’s film but that he’d also co-written it with him, marking his first writing credit.
With the film yet to be released, people are wondering whether it will mark the continuation of Day-Lewis’ career as an actor or whether his decision to star in the film is nothing more than a nepotistic decision to help out his son.
So, how many times has Daniel Day-Lewis quit acting?
This isn’t the first time the actor has retired only to return to the big screen. In 1997, he appeared in The Boxer, directed by Jim Sheridan, which saw the actor train as a boxer for a whole year to prepare. Naturally, this didn’t give Day-Lewis much time to indulge in his own interests, so he subsequently took several years away from acting to engage in some woodworking and shoe-making.
The actor wasn’t seen in a film until 2002, playing a leading role in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. For a year, he had taken a job as an apprentice shoe-maker for Stefano Bemer in Italy, whose website reads, “What many do not know is what brought them together: perfectionism…DD Lewis and Stefano shared the same passion for their respective forms of art.”
Is he likely to do it again?
You only have to look at Day-Lewis’ filmography to see that he doesn’t cram projects into his schedule. In the 2000s, he appeared in five films, while the 2010s saw him appear in just Lincoln in 2012 and Phantom Thread in 2017. The actor likes to take time away to do his own thing, often escaping the public eye in favour of skilled hobbies.
It’s unsurprising that this is Day-Lewis’ method of working since when he does sign onto a job, he seems to pour his whole soul into it, leaving him exhausted. He has evidently needed the time out to be himself, since he spends so much time method acting.
Whether Day-Lewis will continue acting in more than just Anemone is yet to be discovered, but it seems likely that this won’t be the last time we will see the actor on screen. He is such a terrific performer, and it appears that he can’t fully shake his need to get back to acting every once in a while.
