Daniel Day-Lewis recently announced he will be coming out of retirement to star in his son’s directorial debut,Anemone. Day-Lewis hasn’t starred in a feature film sincePaul Thomas Anderson’sPhantom Thread(2017) andofficially announced his retirement from actingfollowing the film’s release. Although Day-Lewis was nominated for his leading role as Reynolds Woodcock, marking his sixth Best Actor nomination, he lost that particular Oscar to Gary Oldman, who won for portraying Winston Churchill inThe Darkest Hour.Day-Lewis remains the only person ever to win the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, while nine other actors have won 2.
Focus Features confirmed that Day-Lewis will star in the upcoming movieAnemone,which will be directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. PerFocus Features, the film"explores the intricate relationships between fathers, sons and brothers, and the dynamics of familial bonds.“Anemone, which is a common gardening plant, will also star Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley, and Safia Oakley-Green. It will mark the directorial debut of Ronan Day-Lewis, which is clearly the primary motivation for Daniel Day-Lewis coming out of retirement after a seven-year hiatus. Day-Lewis’s return to acting has already generated far-too-early Oscar buzz.
The title, premise, and poster of Anemoneinstantly draw comparisons to that ofPaul Thomas Anderson’sMagnolia(1999).
Daniel Day-Lewis Can Become The First Actor To Win Four Best Actor Oscars Now
Day-Lewis could extend his own Best Actor category record
Now that Daniel Day-Lewis has announced his return to acting, he currently has the best chance out of any working actor to win a historic fourth Academy Award in the Best Actor category. As the only person to have ever won 3 Best Actor Oscars, a record that was poised to stand for a great deal of time after he last won for portraying former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’sLincoln(2012),he is in a prime position to receive his seventh career Best Actor nomination forAnemone. Since Ronan Day-Lewis will be making his directorial debut, however, expectations shouldn’t be too high for the overall film.
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It’s unclear how big of a role Daniel Day-Lewis will play in his son’s directorial debut. At face value, it would be safe to assume that he would take up a majority of the screen time inAnemone, considering that he is the most accomplished cast member of those already announced by a long shot. Daniel Day-Lewis is also credited as a co-writer ofAnemonealongside Ronan, which is another key indicator that he will almost certainly have a central role in the film. Interestingly,Anemonewill not only mark the directorial debut of Ronan Day-Lewis but alsothe screenwriting debut of Daniel Day-Lewis.
Daniel Day-Lewis Is Still The Only Person With Three Best Actor Wins
Daniel Day-Lewis' 3 Best Actor Oscars put him ahead of the nine celebrated actors who have all won a total of 2 in their careers. They include Spencer Tracy, who is tied withLaurence Olivier for most Best Actor nominations(9), Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, Gary Cooper, Tom Hanks, Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins, and Fredric March. Of those, onlyHoffman, Hanks, Penn, and Hopkins could tie Day-Lewis' current record at 3 Best Actor winsunless Nicholson also makes an improbable return to acting sometime soon. In the Best Actress category, Katharine Hepburn still leads with 4 wins, followed by Frances McDormand with 3 and over a dozen winners with 2 total.
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The circumstances have certainly changed for Daniel Day-Lewis' exciting albeit interesting return to acting in 2024. The list of acclaimed directors who the celebrated actor has worked with goes as follows: 11-time Oscar nominee Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread, 2017 andThere Will Be Blood, 2007), 2-time Oscar winner Steven Spielberg (Lincoln, 2012), Oscar nominee Rob Marshall (Nine, 2009), Oscar winner Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York, 2002 andThe Age of Innocence, 1993), 6-time Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan (The Boxer, 1997,In the Name of the Father, 1993 andMy Left Foot, 1989), and 4-time Oscar nominee Michael Mann (The Last of the Mohicans).At 26 years old, Ronan Day-Lewis is still vastly unproven.
Will Daniel Day-Lewis Qualify For Best Actor After Anemone?
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Since Daniel Day-Lewis is reportedly the lead inAnemone, he will almost certainly qualify for the Best Actor Oscar, althoughthere is currently no way to gauge whether the film will be of merit. There’s no question that Day-Lewis is a master of his craft, but more often than not, a film must succeed as a whole to generate individual Oscar consideration, which largely comes down to the director as well as the quality of the script.
It is certainly a rare and meaningful feat to be able to pass down the skills and resources of professional filmmaking as if it were a family business. Considering thatAnemoremarks the first screenplay by Daniel Day-Lewis and the first directorial effort by his son,expectations ought to be tempered, at least until a first-look trailer comes out.
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Anemone
Cast
Anemone focuses on familial relationships, exploring the bonds between fathers, sons, and brothers. It also marks Daniel Day-Lewis' first return to acting since 2017.
