Sir Daniel Day-Lewis is often referred to as the greatest actor of his generation and one of the most successful actors of all time. The former English actor has received many awards throughout his career including 3 Oscar awards. Day-Lewis even received a knighthood back in 2014 for his incredible career as an actor that spanned over 4 decades. The English actor eventually announced his retirement from the industry back in 2017.
Getting appreciated by Sir Daniel Day-Lewis himself is something that every young actor or actress looked forward to when they started working with him. However, only a selected few hit the mark and one of those selected view happened to be Paul Dano after working with the legendary actor in There Will Be Blood and The Ballad of Jack and Rose.
My Left Foot actor once compiled a list of actors and movies that had inspired his own movie career
Back in 2013, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis talked about the actors and movies that had inspired his own movie career. The legendary English actor revealed that he was inspired by actors like Robert De Niro, Richard Burton, and Marlon Brando. While talking about the experience of compiling the said list, Day-Lewis revealed that it was a herculean task. He said,
“I’m gathering all these things to me like a crazy hoarder, arms around them, fingers clasped, sweeping them towards me, penning them under the roof of this magazine – or like a flailing game show winner given three minutes to ransack the shelves of their favourite department store, who now sits panting on the floor to examine the surprising sum-total of their plunder.“
Sir Daniel Day-Lewis’s views on Paul Dano
Paul Dano and Sir Daniel Day-Lewis first collaborated in Rebecca Miller’s drama movie, The Ballad of Jack and Rose back in 2005. Despite filming the movie together, the duo never got close to each other. The duo collaborated for There Will Be Blood once again back in 2007 and Day-Lewis opened up about his relationship with Dano and said that he admired him as an actor.
Day-Lewis said,
“I admired him so much in Rebecca [Miller]‘s film. We never really spoke, and we never met socially during that time because the work led us in different directions. He understood implicitly, as I did, that it was important to keep that distance between us. But we got to know each other a little bit after that and I like him so much as a man – which always helps – but as an actor, I think he’s undoubtedly one of the most promising young actors working at the moment.“
Also read: Daniel Day-Lewis: 5 Times Hollywood’s Best Method Actor Shocked Us All
Emile Hirsch and Ryan Gosling were some of the other young actors at the time that Sir Daniel Day-Lewis admired.
Source: Contact Music and Chicago Movie Magazine
