After starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, Daniel Day-Lewis announced his (second) retirement, but eight years later, the actor returned for Anemone, which his son Ronan Day-Lewis directed. While speaking with Rolling Stone, Day-Lewis explained why it was the right time to get back to acting.
“I had some residual sadness because I knew Ronan was going to go on to make films, and I was walking away from that,” Day-Lewis said. “I thought, wouldn’t it be lovely if we could do something together and find a way of maybe containing it, so that it didn’t necessarily have to be something that required all the paraphernalia of a big production.“
He did have “certain reservations about being back in the public world again,” but his son made it “pretty clear that he wasn’t going to do it if I didn’t do it.“
“It was just kind of a low-level fear, [an] anxiety about re-engaging with the business of filmmaking,” Day-Lewis said. “The work was always something I loved. I never, ever stopped loving the work. But there were aspects of the way of life that went with it that I’d never come to terms with — from the day I started out to today. There’s something about that process that left me feeling hollowed out at the end of it. I mean, I was well acquainted with it. I understood that it was all part of the process, and that there would be a regeneration eventually. And it was only really in the last experience [making ‘Phantom Thread’] that I began to feel quite strongly that maybe there wouldn’t be that regeneration anymore. That I just probably should just keep away from it, because I didn’t have anything else to offer.“
Day-Lewis admitted that he “would have done well to just keep my mouth shut” when it came to announcing his retirement. “It just seems like such grandiose gibberish to talk about. I never intended to retire, really,” he said. “I just stopped doing that particular type of work so I could do some other work. I never, you know… Apparently, I’ve been accused of retiring twice now. I never meant to retire from anything! I just wanted to work on something else for a while… As I get older, it just takes me longer and longer to find my way back to the place where the furnace is burning again. But working with Ro, that furnace just lit up. And it was, from beginning to end, just pure joy to spend that time together with him.“
The film is said to explore the complex and profound ties that exist between brothers, fathers, and sons. It will open in select theaters on October 3, before expanding wide on October 10. It remains to be seen if Day-Lewis will take on other roles, but I’d be willing to bet we haven’t seen the last of him.
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