After publicly announcing he would retire from acting in May, Daniel Day-Lewis is now opening up about why his role in “Phantom Thread” will be his last.
Though his original statement said his choice to quit acting was a “private decision” and he wouldn’t be commenting further, the 60-year-old actor now reveals his motivations to W Magazine.
The notorious Method actor says he has thought about quitting the acting business on several occasions when he has emerged from playing a character. The three-time Oscar winner says while it may have been uncharacteristic to release a statement announcing his retirement, Day-Lewis explains he needed to be held accountable.
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“I knew it was uncharacteristic to put out a statement,” he admits. “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.”
Day-Lewis, who has always chosen his projects sporadically, sometimes taking years between performances, says he didn’t know “Phantom Thread” would be his final film. In it, Day-Lewis re-teams with his “There Will be Blood” director Paul Thomas Anderson for the 1950s era look at a renowned London dressmaker whose life is disrupted by a young woman who later becomes his muse.
“Before making the film, I didn’t know I was going to stop acting. I do know that Paul 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,” he says.
Now that Day-Lewis is facing down his retirement, he admits he is filled with both sadness and excitement for where his path will take him next.
“Do I feel better?” he asks. “Not yet. I have great sadness. And that’s the right way to feel. How strange would it be if this was just a gleeful step into a brand-new life? I’ve been interested in acting since I was 12-years-old, and back then, everything other than the theatre – that box of light – was cast in shadow. When I began, it was a question of salvation. Now, I want to explore the world in a different way.”
Though he doesn’t yet have any concrete plans for his retirement, Day-Lewis isn’t worried about filling his time. “I won’t know which way to go for a while. But I’m not going to stay idle. I don’t fear the stony silence,” he says.
“Phantom Thread” opens in limited release in Canada on Jan. 5, before expanding to more cities at a later date.