{"id":76389,"date":"2025-10-15T14:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/76389\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T14:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:43:08","slug":"daniel-day-lewis-on-anemone-return-method-acting-not-being-a-cult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/76389\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Day-Lewis on ‘Anemone’ Return, Method Acting Not Being a Cult"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDaniel Day-Lewis<\/a>\u00a0was back in the London spotlight for the first time in years on Wednesday, appearing at a jam-packed Screen Talk<\/a> as part of the 69th edition<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0BFI\u00a0London Film Festival<\/a>\u00a0(LFF) where he was welcomed with a rousing ovation after signing autographs for fans before the event.<\/p>\n

\n\tDiscussing his return to acting after eight years in family drama Anemone<\/a>, directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis, and his career, the three-time Oscar winner shared: \u201cIt began with a pure wish really to work with Ronan\u201d to address the \u201csadness\u201d of maybe not getting to do so in film otherwise. He described the film as an exploration of brotherhood and the reuniting of estranged siblings.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe lack of need for words\u201d is what interested him, and understanding his character\u2019s army career trajectory was key for him to unlock the character, who is chasing his brother, and his behavior.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnemone\u00a0follows a middle-aged man<\/a>, portrayed by Sean Bean, on his journey into the woods, where he reconnects with his estranged hermit brother, played by Day-Lewis. Samantha Morton also stars in the movie. Day-Lewis previously shared that he had \u201ccertain reservations about being back in the public world again\u201d by starring in\u00a0the film, but that his son \u201cmade it pretty clear that he wasn\u2019t going to do it if I didn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe project from Focus Features had its\u00a0world premiere at the New York Film Festival<\/a>. The movie is the feature directorial debut of Ronan Day-Lewis and was co-written by him and his father.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a wide-ranging discussion, the star was asked on Wednesday about how he has gotten into the physicality of many of his roles, such as My Left Foot. He eased into that one with \u201cvery gentle steps,\u201d he shared. \u201cI thought of the wheelchair as a cage \u2026 and I began to work a lot with my foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about his approach to acting, Day-Lewis said that immersion \u201cto me makes sense,\u201d but other actors can do great work without that, \u201cand hats off to them.\u201d He emphasized that \u201cI still find that process a joyful thing. We\u2019re playing games for a living.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe star also argued that criticism of method acting in recent years has at times been portrayed like a cult, saying such comments often come from people who don\u2019t really understand it. \u201cIt is invariably from people that have little or no understanding of what it actually involves,\u201d Day-Lewis said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like some special science that we\u2019re involved in, or a cult, but it\u2019s just a way of freeing yourself [for] the spontaneity when you are working with your colleagues in front of the camera, so that you are free to respond in any way that you\u2019re moved to in that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe star emphasized that he came into My Left Foot without the screen experience he could have used. \u201dI was clueless,\u201d he said, drawing laughter. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a fucking clue what I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBack when he went to acting school, theater was considered the \u201celite cultural form,\u201d while film was seen as \u201cdodgy,\u201d and TV got the reaction of \u201creally?!\u201d he recalled. \u201cIt always bugged the hell out of me that we were basically performing for a group of privileged people,\u201d he said about his feelings towards such attitudes.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo more laughs, he shared how \u201cStephen Frears was exasperated with me,\u201d because Day-Lewis always needs something \u201creal\u201d to be able to stay in the illusion and in the sphere of acting. For example, he would, in a role, stop sweeping the floor once it was clean, to the director\u2019s frustration, Day-Lewis said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about his long creative relationship with Jim Sheridan, he shared: \u201cI met Jim, and I basically had a crush on him within 10 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also mentioned on Wednesday how he \u201crevered Marlon Brando,\u201d among other actors. And he shared: \u201cI had a crush on Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews, I mean,\u201d he also shared. That and Zulu were two of his favorite films when he was young.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe role that changed his life when he viewed it was Dai Bradley in Kes. \u201cIt remains one of the greatest performances,\u201d he said before expressing hos \u201cadmiration for Ken Loach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe star also discussed working with writer-director Rebecca Miller, now his wife, on The Ballad of Jack and Rose and now his son. \u201cThere was never any question about \u2026 a conflict of interest\u201d between family and work roles in both cases, he concluded. Both movies were \u201cexperiences that people will remember happily,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tRonan Day-Lewis joined the on-stage discussion for the final 20 minutes, sharing that the shoot for Anemone, much of which takes place in a shed, was \u201cclaustrophobic\u201d but also \u201cincredibly intimate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two wrote the script together, with Day-Lewis senior mentioning that he can\u2019t really type. But his son also saw another benefit of working with his father, explaining the familial collaboration this way: \u201dIt takes the edge off because you know they will give you the benefit of the doubt,\u201d as long as you have a good relationship. Added his father: \u201cIt was a joyful experience to have this time together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRonan Day-Lewis highlighted how David Lynch has influenced him and how he shared with the legendary filmmaker the interest in \u201cexploring darkness\u201d without \u201cexisting in darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about funny moments in Anemone, his father said, among other things, that he found the idea of \u201dshitting on a priest\u201d that is mentioned in one scene really \u201chilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDaniel Day-Lewis recently admitted he regretted announcing his retirement<\/a> following his role in Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s 2017 film\u00a0Phantom Thread. \u201cLooking back on it now \u2014 I would have done well to just keep my mouth shut, for sure,\u201d he told Rolling Stone. \u201cIt just seems like such grandiose gibberish to talk about. I never intended to retire, really. I just stopped doing that particular type of work so I could do some other work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe star also shared final words of advice for young actors on Wednesday, before a farewell standing ovation. \u201cA lot of young actors, especially if they\u2019re lucky enough \u2013 when you get chances, people want to keep coming for you. They keep looking for you as long as the money\u2019s coming in,\u201d Day-Lewis said. \u201cAnd so it takes a certain steadiness in yourself to say, \u2018No, I need to just do this the only way I know how.\u2019 And I did just do it the only way I knew how.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniel Day-Lewis\u00a0was back in the London spotlight for the first time in years on Wednesday, appearing at a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[51487,53890,10459,146,85,399,46],"class_list":["post-76389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bfi-london-film-festival","tag-bfi-london-film-festival-2025","tag-daniel-day-lewis","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-international","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}