Over the last few weeks, there have been rumors of Daniel Day-Lewis coming out of retirement to work with Scorsese and Spielberg, among other names dropped. This has all turned out to be false.
Filmmaker Jim Sheridan, a close friend of the actor, is telling Screen that he regularly speaks to Day-Lewis and he’s pretty sure that whatever hopes we might have for an acting comeback won’t be coming to fruition any time soon:
He says he’s done, I keep talking to him. I’d love to do something with him again. He’s like everybody else, he opens up the streamers and there’s seven thousand choices, none of them are good.
These rumors started in January when Daniel Day-Lewis showed up to present the Best Director award to Martin Scorsese. What sparked it all was when Scorsese, in his acceptance speech, hinted of a possible reunion with the legendary actor:
We did two films together and it’s one of the greatest experiences of my life… maybe there’s time for one more
A few weeks after that, Day-Lewis was spotted meeting up with his “Lincoln” director, Steven Spielberg, in New York City. If anybody could potentially convince the actor to come out of retirement then it would be a big name director like Spielberg or Scorsese.
It’s been six years since Day-Lewis announced his second retirement from acting. Some were skeptical that he would actually stop acting, but so far, he’s stayed true to his word. In 2017, Day-Lewis announced this retirement after the release of “Phantom Thread”. Reflecting on his decision, he had told W magazine: "All my life, I’ve mouthed off about how I should stop acting... it was something I had to do."
The skepticism over whether he’s actually hung up his globes is earned, and this isn’t the first time the 66-year-old actor decided to step away from film. Following 1996's "The Boxer," Day-Lewis left acting and went into woodworking, becoming a cobbler. It was one of the weirder stories to emerge. This newfound passion in shoemaking resulted in him moving to Italy where he embarked on an apprenticeship with shoemaker extraordinaire Stefano Bemer.
If he has indeed retired, Day-Lewis will be remembered for a handful of landmark performances in such films as “There Will Be Blood,” “Gangs of New York,” “My Left Foot,” “Lincoln,” “In the Name of the Father” and “The Crucible.” However, we don’t want to believe he’s gone — one more, please?
Still no distributor for "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.