Pedro Almodóvar once picked the only weakness of Daniel Day-Lewis
There are few actors quite like Daniel Day-Lewis, a true master of the acting craft in every sense and a man who serves as one of the greatest performers of all time, standing tall next to the likes of Marlon Brando in such an exclusive category. Throughout a remarkable career that’s also seen a handful of retirements, Day-Lewis has transcended what’s expected of an actor, and he will remain one of the true champions of the profession for ages to come.
With performances of almost unbelievable dedication in the likes of My Left Foot, Gangs of New York, Last of the Mohicans, and There Will Be Blood, Day-Lewis has persistently proven his ability to genuinely embody his characters, find the smallest of emotional nuances within them and deliver them with a brutal authenticity and intensity.
However, as admired as Day-Lewis is by audiences, actors, and directors alike, there are limits to his brilliance. Although this might seem hard to admit, given the countless awe-inspiring performances the actor has given, the director Pedro Almodóvar once spoke of the kinds of actors who could not give a quality comic effort on-screen, and he added Day-Lewis to such a category.
“Brando, a comedy actor? No. And he tried it,” the director once told The Yorkshire Post (via IndieWire). “He even sang and danced in Guys and Dolls, stiff as a board, but Brando was too self-aware. I don’t know if Montgomery Cliff ever actually tried it, but I can’t imagine him. Or James Dean. Or Daniel Day-Lewis.”
It was Day-Lewis that Almodóvar decided to pick out from that point, though, explaining that he holds the actor in the highest regard but seriously doubts his ability as a comic actor. “I don’t debate his greatness, but no matter how thin he is,” Almodóvar said, “Daniel Day-Lewis can’t manage to give the slightest sensation of lightness.”
Now, of course, Day-Lewis is not the kind of actor who is meant to give performances of a comic nature as he has instead embodied a kind of seriousness that has made him simply one of the greatest actors of all time. Even so, we wouldn’t put it past the actor to be able to deliver moments of humour, and he has, in fact, made audiences laugh in the likes of In The Name of the Father and Phantom Thread, even if such films are indeed dramatic in tone and narrative.
But Almodóvar wants to point out how strange it feels when the likes of Brando make a comic appearance and how it never really quite works out. The only actor to have been able to do it correctly, though? “Marilyn Monroe is still the exception,” the director noted. “Adopted by the Strasbergs, she managed to overcome the weight of the Method.”
