60-year-old Daniel Day-Lewis has announced, through representative Leslee Dart, that he “will no longer be working as an actor. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject”.
The news comes as a surprise, despite the mere seven roles that Day-Lewis has indulged himself in over the last twenty years. His selectivity in choosing film roles manages to make his feat as the only performer with three Best Actor Oscar wins even more impressive, cementing his position as one of the greatest actors of our time.
His most notable performance in recent times stands as US President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln (2012), for which he won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.
If he commits to his retirement, the actor’s final film will be Phantom Thread, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson with whom Day-Lewis had collaborated with in There Will Be Blood (2007). Their collaboration resulted in Day-Lewis’ second Oscar win and perhaps a fourth Oscar will be on the table this time around.
Phantom Thread will see Day-Lewis tackle a different kind of role as Charles James, a high society fashion designer in the 1950s. It is set for release in the US on December 25, with a UK premiere date expected the following February.
While we can try and hope that Daniel Day-Lewis decides to return to the screen, we can definitely regard his masterful career with awe and look forward to the next generation of actors that he has inspired.
#Peace.Love.DanielDay-Lewis
