Earlier this year, it was revealed by a Daniel Day-Lewis spokesperson that the revered actor would be calling it quits on acting following the release of his next film, The Phantom Thread.
Of course, this shook up the business quite a bit. Sure, he may not have the biggest mainstream appeal, but Day-Lewis is seen as perhaps one of the greatest actors of all time, and to see him leave would be the retirement of a true legend. Since that time, Day-Lewis has remained silent on the whole ordeal, and hasn’t even spoken up as to the why behind it all.
Now, in an interview with W Magazine, The Phantom Thread star discussed how he felt now was a good time to retire. While this move may seem like one that’s been well thought out, it sounds like it was a discovery made while filming The Phantom Thread.
“Before making the film, I didn’t know I was going to stop acting. I do know that [director] Paul [Thomas Anderson] and I laughed a lot before we made the movie. And then we stopped laughing because we were both overwhelmed by a sense of sadness. That took us by surprise: We didn’t realize what we had given birth to. It was hard to live with. And still is.”
Not gonna lie. That all sounds like some abstract, actor-y mumbo jumbo, but I think the sentiment is there, even if the logic isn’t. However, if you’ve been following Day-Lewis, you know that the actor tends to want to quit after each and every role, and this announcement was a way for him to actually commit to doing so finally.
“I knew it was uncharacteristic to put out a statement. But I did want to draw a line. I didn’t want to get sucked back into another project. All my life, I’ve mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don’t know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do.”
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SOURCE: WMagazine