NEED TO KNOW
- Daniel Day-Lewis said he “didn’t have a f—— clue” what he was doing on the set of 1989’s My Left Foot
- His portrayal of Christy Brown in the comedy-drama earned him his first Academy Award for Best Actor
- The actor most recently starred in Focus Features’ Anemone, which also marks his son Ronan’s feature directorial debut
Daniel Day-Lewis didn’t always know his way around a film set.
During his Oct. 15 Screen Talk at the BFI London Film Festival, the My Left Foot star admitted that he didn’t have a ton of experience ahead of playing the role of Christy Brown in the 1989 comedy drama, which later earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
”I was clueless,” Daniel, 68, told the audience with a laugh, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I didn’t have a f—– clue what I was doing.” But as time went on, he began to take “very gentle steps” toward exploring method acting techniques. “I thought of the wheelchair as a cage … and I began to work a lot with my foot,” he continued.
In the years following, however, method acting has come under criticism, with some people expressing that the practice has been portrayed as cult-like. To that, Daniel explained, “It is invariably from people that have little or no understanding of what it actually involves.”
“It’s almost like some special science that we’re involved in, or a cult, but it’s 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’re moved to in that moment,” he continued.
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More recently, the Phantom Thread actor returned to acting following an eight-year hiatus in Focus Features’ latest film, Anemone, which also marks his son Ronan Day-Lewis’ feature directorial debut. According to an official synopsis, the film deals with familial issues: “Family bonds between fathers, sons and brothers are explored as complex relationships unfold through personal journeys and generational conflicts.”
While the Oscar winner admitted that he had “certain reservations about being back in the public world again,” his son, 27, certainly played a role in convincing him to return to the spotlight.
“It began with a pure wish, really to work with Ronan,” Daniel said of his return, adding that he also appreciated the opportunity to explore the topics of brotherhood and the reunion of estranged siblings in the film. After all, Ronan “made it pretty clear that he wasn’t going to do it if I didn’t do it.”
Even so, Daniel also said during the 63rd New York Film Festival that he was “really grateful” he rediscovered his “appetite” for acting. “I was at a very low ebb and I thought, ‘I’m doing this because I [didn’t] really expect to find my way back to the appetite for this work again,’ ” he said at the time. “And I did.”
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