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Daniel Day-Lewis retires from acting... (1 Viewer)

Winston T. Boogie

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Apparently a spokesperson made the announcement that he is done and that's that and there will be no further comment or discussion of it. I was sad to hear this because I have loved many of his performances and he seemed to just be getting better and better. There Will Be Blood and Lincoln were just flat out amazing performances. He was one of the best things about Gangs of New York. I look forward to Phantom Thread but I hope it is not the last we see of him.

I hope he is alright and maybe just needs a break for a while.
 
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Winston T. Boogie

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Yes, but he is 60 and I found this sudden announcement weird, particularly the part where they said there will be no further comment on the matter. So, I hope it is just something where he needs to stop for a while and recharge his batteries but we will see I guess. The guy has been amazing and I am excited to see what he does in this new film from Paul Thomas Anderson. I mean, I know he seems like a guy that does not want to take parts in super hero films and that kind of stuff so maybe he feels like there is no longer much out there for him to tackle.
 
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Josh Steinberg

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Daniel Day-Lewis has contributed some incredible performances to the screen and I will miss seeing his work. There Will Be Blood and Lincoln in particular are as stunning to me with each repeated viewing as they were the first time around.

Apparently, as far as method actors go, no one is more devoted to that approach to the craft as Day-Lewis, insisting on staying in character for months at a time and putting himself through unpleasant experiences to get the feel of the time and place the character lived in. I imagine that's not easy to do, nor particularly conducive to long term happiness.
 

Mark Mayes

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This is really too bad . I always hoped he would give final proof of his versatility by doing a comedy. That's the one area where all the truly great film actors were able to also dazzle us. Tracy, Gable, Stewart, Fonda, Cooper, Olivier, even Brando as Skye in "Guys and Dolls". I known he tried with " Stars and Bars"and " Eversmile." But I think he got closest in "Room With A View"-which was not strictly a comedy, but in which he turned in a layered comic performance. I was hoping for more memorable roles in future...and at least one film that would be fun to go back to. His Oscar-winning performances are great to watch, but the films are ordeals sometimes that require a deep breath before watching. I am sure and hope that I am in the minority on this thinking.
 

skylark68

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I agree with you Mr. Mayes. I enjoyed particularly There Will Be Blood and Lincoln so much but they are films that you really have to prepare yourself for. They aren't films that I revisit very often although I have them in my library. Funny enough, the movie he should have won an Oscar for, Gangs of New York, I can watch quite often. I love that movie, probably my favorite role of his next to Last of the Mohicans.
 

Johnny Angell

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I agree with you Mr. Mayes. I enjoyed particularly There Will Be Blood and Lincoln so much but they are films that you really have to prepare yourself for. They aren't films that I revisit very often although I have them in my library. Funny enough, the movie he should have won an Oscar for, Gangs of New York, I can watch quite often. I love that movie, probably my favorite role of his next to Last of the Mohicans.
And I can watch Lincoln multiple times.
 

Josh Steinberg

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He's incredible in Lincoln.

I read the book Team Of Rivals during a less fun period in my life when I was out of work. The book was riveting and very inspirational in a way. (If these people could survive the civil war, I could surely survive being unemployed and underemployed.) Due to the huge number of primary sources Doris Kearns Goodwin had access to and included, as I read the book I truly felt as if I had come to know the man, as if I was living in that time. It was an astonishing achievement and I'll never forget the book, or how it made me feel.

When the movie was announced I was excited. When Day-Lewis was cast, I was elated. I wasn't sure how he was going to banish Daniel Plainview and bring forth the President, but I knew if there was any actor alive who could make me forget I was watching a movie and believe in the character, it was him.

My opinion of the film and his performance grows with each viewing. When I watch the movie, I recognize all of the actors in it except Day-Lewis. To me, he just completely disappears, and all I see is Lincoln. That voice, the mannerisms, the way he speaks, the way he treats other people, it all is what I imagined when I read Team Of Rivals.

I would have ended the movie a tiny bit before Spielberg did - at the moment Lincoln is walking down the White House hall to depart for the theater ("It's time for me to go, but I would rather stay.") - but that's a tiny nitpick. If the film misses perfection by just that tiny measure, it's not a reflection of Day-Lewis - he is perfect in it.

I usually cry at some point when I watch the movie. Sometimes it's with sadness, at the end, with the realization that the man is gone, and was taken from us too soon. Other times, it's in the middle, and it's not a sad case of tears but just an emotional one, a feeling of gratitude that such a man could have lived, and that there is this remarkable portrait thanks to Day-Lewis, Spielberg, Goodwin and Kushner.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Hopefully this is not health-related.

I'll echo what's already been said. Daniel Day-Lewis is a terrific actor who has given us some wonderful performances. I still need to get my wife to watch There Will Be Blood. She has this strange aversion to longer films, so I have to catch her in the right mood.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Hopefully this is not health-related.

This was my concern since it was so sudden and came before Anderson has even finished his film. Just a strange time to announce this I thought. However, they say he is quite eccentric so who knows. Maybe he wrapped his work on Phantom Thread and was wiped out and just said that's it I quit. Plus he seems to have other interests in life and maybe he hit 60 and decided it was time to get to them.
 

PMF

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Mr. Day-Lewis would be remiss to retire before doing one final film with Meryl Streep.

With that said, it is also brave to leave and not go the DeNiro route; thus leaving behind a dense body of work, both potent and perfect;
as Method acting at its best can drain and exhaust both the driver and his engine.

One can only lend their bittersweet bravos, well-wishes and thanks to this magnificent artist.
 
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Winston T. Boogie

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DDL Phantom.jpg
 
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PMF

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I also admire how Daniel Day-Lewis resisted the temptations of doing films that laid out the traps for Hollywood sequels.
Case in point, "My Left Foot" could have easily gone on to "My Right Foot".
Or Hollywood cashing in on both "Lincoln" and "Lincoln Lawyer", by pairing him with Matthew McConaughey in a Spielberg prequel entitled "Lawyer Lincoln".
And, of course, the sequel to "There Will Be Blood" may very well had turned into "There Will Be Embalming".
 

Winston T. Boogie

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So now we know that he took years preparing to play a dressmaker and so fell in love with dressmaking that he is quitting acting so he can be a dressmaker full time.

"He's so method, it takes him three years to prepare for a role. He was telling friends he really wanted to go out with a bang," a source told pagesix.com.

The source added that Day-Lewis did such intense research and learned so much about couture fashion for his final film playing "an uncompromising dressmaker commissioned by royalty and high society" that he will stick with the profession off screen and become a dressmaker.

There are also rumors that this retirement deal is likely not going to stick and that this is just part of his depression of coming down off the role. He does not want to leave the world of "dressmaking" now that he has been in it for years it seems. So, I guess somebody is going to get a DDL Couture dress out of this...
 

Winston T. Boogie

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I did mention these, but think he could have wowed us in more memorable material.

I think what happened was basically after these comedies he became more recognized for serious parts and so those were the offers he got...plus I think he began to gravitate toward playing more serious roles. Particularly roles he could really lose himself in. Not that comedy is not difficult thing to do...I think it is and to do it right takes quite a bit of commitment and craft...but obviously his "method" pulled him toward the more serious stuff.
 

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