HOLLYWOOD (AFP) — Quality not quantity has been the dominant theme for Daniel Day-Lewis during a career that has seen him carve out a reputation as one of the finest actors of his generation.
Day-Lewis, who won the best actor Oscar Sunday for playing a tyrannical oil prospector in "There Will Be Blood," is renowned for the selectiveness and intense research with which approaches each of his roles.
The 50-year-old actor has made only eight films in the nearly 20 years since he gained international stardom for his astonishing Oscar-winning performance as a man born with cerebral palsy in "My Left Foot."
Without exception, however, Day-Lewis has immersed himself in each of his film roles to a degree that has become legendary.
Often during films Day-Lewis chooses to remain in character off-set, living and breathing the part of his on-screen persona 24 hours a day.
For 1989's "My Left Foot" he insisted on staying in his character's wheelchair during the shoot to the consternation of crew members forced to carry him above or around camera cables and lighting.
In 1992's historical epic "Last of the Mohicans", Day-Lewis buffed up and learnt to live off the land as his character had done.
For Martin Scorsese's period drama "The Age of Innocence," Day-Lewis reportedly donned 1870s garb and spent several weeks wandering around New York to get into character.
Also in 1993, Day-Lewis shed several pounds to play an Irishman wrongfully convicted of an IRA pub bombing in "In The Name of the Father."
Day-Lewis ordered crew members to verbally abuse him and throw cold water over him during the making of the film.
Day-Lewis, who rarely gives interviews and generally eschews the trappings of celebrity, is reluctant to talk about the madness in his method.
"Considering the way that I work very often, I do feel I've been soundly misrepresented so many times that there's almost no point in even talking about it," he said in a recent interview.
"But people tend to focus on the details of the preparation -- the practical details in this clinic or that prison and so on and so forth.
"For me, as much as that work is a vital part of it and always fuel to one's fascination, one's curiosity, the principal work is always in the imagination."
During the making of his next film, 1996's adaptation of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", Day-Lewis met his wife, Rebecca Miller, the daughter of the legendary late American playwright.
Day-Lewis was to make one more film -- 1997's "The Boxer" -- before retreating into a mysterious five-year break from acting that has been the subject of intense speculation.
The most widely reported version of events is that Day-Lewis spent part of the period living in Italy learning to become shoemaker in exchange for teaching a cobbler how to act. Whatever the truth, Day-Lewis has studiously avoided talking about the period.
Once asked what he had done during those years, Day-Lewis replied: "Different things. Some of which I've resolutely chosen not to speak about."
Day-Lewis returned with a vengeance in 2002, teaming with Scorsese once again to play the murderous Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting in "Gangs of New York," a role that earned him his third Oscar nomination.
A further appearance in the drama "The Ballad of Jack and Rose" in which he was directed by his wife, came in 2005, before Day-Lewis re-emerged to link with director Paul Thomas Anderson in "There Will Be Blood."
Day-Lewis was born in 1957 to Cecil Day-Lewis, then Britain's poet laureate, and Jill Balcon, an actress whose father Sir Michael Balcon ran London's legendary Ealing film studios.
He dropped out of school at 13 for his first film, an uncredited bit part in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," then began to seriously hone his acting skills -- first at the Bristol Old Vic, then with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
In 1982 he reappeared on the silver screen in the epic "Gandhi," but he really made his name three years later in two very different films: "My Beautiful Laundrette" and "A Room with a View."
In the low-budget "Laundrette," he played a gay punk in Thatcher-era south London who goes into the coin-wash business with his Pakistani boyfriend.
In the Merchant-Ivory "A Room with a View," he portrayed a hopelessly proper fiance in early 20th century Edwardian England.
In 1987 he clinched his first starring role opposite French actress Juliette Binoche in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," director Philip Kaufman's adaptation of the Milan Kundera novel.
Day-Lewis, who won the best actor Oscar Sunday for playing a tyrannical oil prospector in "There Will Be Blood," is renowned for the selectiveness and intense research with which approaches each of his roles.
The 50-year-old actor has made only eight films in the nearly 20 years since he gained international stardom for his astonishing Oscar-winning performance as a man born with cerebral palsy in "My Left Foot."
Without exception, however, Day-Lewis has immersed himself in each of his film roles to a degree that has become legendary.
Often during films Day-Lewis chooses to remain in character off-set, living and breathing the part of his on-screen persona 24 hours a day.
For 1989's "My Left Foot" he insisted on staying in his character's wheelchair during the shoot to the consternation of crew members forced to carry him above or around camera cables and lighting.
In 1992's historical epic "Last of the Mohicans", Day-Lewis buffed up and learnt to live off the land as his character had done.
For Martin Scorsese's period drama "The Age of Innocence," Day-Lewis reportedly donned 1870s garb and spent several weeks wandering around New York to get into character.
Also in 1993, Day-Lewis shed several pounds to play an Irishman wrongfully convicted of an IRA pub bombing in "In The Name of the Father."
Day-Lewis ordered crew members to verbally abuse him and throw cold water over him during the making of the film.
Day-Lewis, who rarely gives interviews and generally eschews the trappings of celebrity, is reluctant to talk about the madness in his method.
"Considering the way that I work very often, I do feel I've been soundly misrepresented so many times that there's almost no point in even talking about it," he said in a recent interview.
"But people tend to focus on the details of the preparation -- the practical details in this clinic or that prison and so on and so forth.
"For me, as much as that work is a vital part of it and always fuel to one's fascination, one's curiosity, the principal work is always in the imagination."
During the making of his next film, 1996's adaptation of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", Day-Lewis met his wife, Rebecca Miller, the daughter of the legendary late American playwright.
Day-Lewis was to make one more film -- 1997's "The Boxer" -- before retreating into a mysterious five-year break from acting that has been the subject of intense speculation.
The most widely reported version of events is that Day-Lewis spent part of the period living in Italy learning to become shoemaker in exchange for teaching a cobbler how to act. Whatever the truth, Day-Lewis has studiously avoided talking about the period.
Once asked what he had done during those years, Day-Lewis replied: "Different things. Some of which I've resolutely chosen not to speak about."
Day-Lewis returned with a vengeance in 2002, teaming with Scorsese once again to play the murderous Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting in "Gangs of New York," a role that earned him his third Oscar nomination.
A further appearance in the drama "The Ballad of Jack and Rose" in which he was directed by his wife, came in 2005, before Day-Lewis re-emerged to link with director Paul Thomas Anderson in "There Will Be Blood."
Day-Lewis was born in 1957 to Cecil Day-Lewis, then Britain's poet laureate, and Jill Balcon, an actress whose father Sir Michael Balcon ran London's legendary Ealing film studios.
He dropped out of school at 13 for his first film, an uncredited bit part in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," then began to seriously hone his acting skills -- first at the Bristol Old Vic, then with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
In 1982 he reappeared on the silver screen in the epic "Gandhi," but he really made his name three years later in two very different films: "My Beautiful Laundrette" and "A Room with a View."
In the low-budget "Laundrette," he played a gay punk in Thatcher-era south London who goes into the coin-wash business with his Pakistani boyfriend.
In the Merchant-Ivory "A Room with a View," he portrayed a hopelessly proper fiance in early 20th century Edwardian England.
In 1987 he clinched his first starring role opposite French actress Juliette Binoche in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," director Philip Kaufman's adaptation of the Milan Kundera novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment