Three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, the celebrated English star of films such as “Lincoln” and “There Will Be Blood, ” is retiring…
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Three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, the celebrated English star of films such as “Lincoln” and “There Will Be Blood, ” is retiring from acting.
“Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor, ” his representative said in a statement to Variety on Tuesday. “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.”
It’s unclear whether that means Day-Lewis will be leaving Hollywood altogether or pursue behind-the-scenes endeavors.
The 60-year-old star’s final film will be Paul Thomas Anderson’s drama “Phantom Thread, ” which is slated for a Christmas release. The two also worked together on “There Will Be Blood.”
Day-Lewis won his first lead actor Academy Award for 1989’s “My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown.” He was nominated for 1993’s “In the Name of the Father” and 2002’s “Gangs of New York” before going on to win his next two Oscars for 2007’s “There Will Be Blood” and 2012’s “Lincoln.”
Here’s a look at five of his notable films and how The Times’ sized them up in its reviews:
Day-Lewis plays writer and artist Christy Brown, who has cerebral palsy.
“Day-Lewis seizes the role, and almost immediately gets us to look beyond the man in the chair to the soul inside, ” wrote critic Sheila Benson. “It’s a performance with a fantastic trajectory; he is sly, funny, as swift as he can be with these squash-shaped syllables, wicked, mordant and openly romantic. And wait until you seem him as goalie in a street scrimmage.”
“In the Name of the Father” (1993)
Day-Lewis plays Gerry Conlon, a wrongly accused suspect in the Guildford Four bombing case whose father is imprisoned as well.
“As the son whose eyes are opened, Daniel Day-Lewis gives another one of his extraordinarily convincing performances. Of Irish descent, he may have come by his character’s melodic accent naturally, but more demanding were not only the chilling interrogation sequences (the actor went without sleep or food for several days to prepare) but also the transformation in personality Conlon undergoes, ” wrote critic Kenneth Turan.
“Starting as a callow malcontent, Conlon visibly matures during his years inside … [and] changes along with his character, his body and even the cast of his face altering in the course of this rich, screen-owning presentation. It is a piece of acting that makes us feel we are living those harrowing years right along with him.”
As William “Bill the Butcher” Cutting, Day-Lewis leads the foreigner-hating Native Americans in 1860s New York.
“Day-Lewis, who apparently listened to Eminem to keep his rage level up, gives an impeccable performance as the dandified, psychotic dragon Bill the Butcher. He’s a self-consciously theatrical gangster, all menace and malevolence, and he has our complete attention whenever he’s on screen, ” wrote Turan. “But as proficient as the work is, it’s a performance in a vacuum, so apart from the rest of the film that it can’t enlarge or feed it the way great performances classically do.”
Day-Lewis plays turn-of-the century oil prospector Daniel Plainview, whom the film follows from his beginnings as a silver miner to a finale nearly 30 years later.
“He has become justifiably celebrated for disappearing into his characters with a completeness that is both terrifying and an ideal match for Anderson’s filmmaking approach, ” Turan wrote. “Day-Lewis works at such a high-wire level that many of the film’s supporting cast members simply fade away.”
The actor plays President Lincoln in his final four months of life as he works to emancipate the slaves.
“No one needs to be told at this late date what a consummate actor he is, but even those used to the way he disappears into roles will be startled by the marvelously relaxed way he morphs into this character and simply becomes Lincoln, ” Turan observed. “While his heroic qualities are visible when they’re needed, Day-Lewis’ Lincoln is a deeply human individual, stooped and weary after four years of civil war but endowed with a palpable largeness of spirit and a genuine sense of humor.”
