The movie Daniel Day-Lewis ran out of excuses not to make: “I really wasn’t the person”
If we’re using awards as a measuring stick, then Daniel Day-Lewis is the greatest male actor of all time. He has won the coveted ‘Best Actor’ trophy at the Oscars a record three times, and only Katharine Hepburn has won more equivalent gongs.
His first win came in 1989 for the movie My Left Foot, in which he played a man who was almost entirely paralysed. Then came Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, for which Day-Lewis was again rewarded for his portrayal of a relentless oil tycoon. His third and final victory (to date) came in 2012 when he teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make Lincoln.
A biography of the titular president, the film covers the final four months of his life. From the dying days of the American Civil War to that infamous trip to Ford’s Theatre, Lincoln captures so much of why its namesake is still regarded as one of the most pivotal figures in the country’s history. Day-Lewis’ portrayal of the slain leader was just as good as everyone hoped it would be. It’s up there with the best of his career, but he initially hesitated to step into the trademark hat of ‘Honest Abe’.
Spielberg first floated the idea to the actor in 2003, but Day-Lewis turned it down. After Liam Neeson initially signed on to and then dropped out of the project, the first choice for the part finally agreed to take it on. Both Neeson and Leonardo DiCaprio had to step in to persuade him to accept the gig, as Day-Lewis believed that he was unsuitable to play such a monumental individual. The former even begged to be let go from the project so Day-Lewis could take over.
When asked by Front Row to expand on why he finally said yes, the acclaimed performer gave it to them straight. “I didn’t know it was the right choice, but I ran out of excuses,” he admitted. “I did not want to be responsible for irrevocably staining the reputation of the man. Not just in a self-serving way but quite literally. It seemed to me a very difficult thing to try and tell that story. I just really felt I wasn’t the person to do that.”
Lincoln was the first major attempt to fictionalise the Civil War commander’s life. There were two movies about the President in the 1930s, where he was played by Walter Huston and Henry Fonda, respectively. In 1998, Lance Henriksen of Aliens fame played him in a TV movie called The Day Lincoln was Shot, but there was hardly a definitive portrayal.
Day-Lewis might not have believed he could play Lincoln, but his director sure did. “Daniel was doing a feasibility study to see whether he would allow himself to go near a script that was clearly on the verge of brilliance,” Spielberg said. “If he had finally and ultimately said no, I would never have made the movie.”
Spielberg’s admission that Day-Lewis was the only person capable of playing Abraham Lincoln is a major endorsement of his ability. His penchant for method acting might rub certain people up the wrong way, but it’s hard to argue with a testimony from one of the greatest directors of all time.
