For many, including Day-Lewis himself, the role in “Phantom Thread” was the last act of his career. His contribution to cinema is evident in the memorable cinematic works of “My Left Foot”, “In the name of the Father”, or “There Will Be Blood.” This can be said specifically as a tribute to method acting, a technique that Day-Lewis is globally acclaimed for. Seemingly stepping away from the film industry was a ‘personal’ decision, according to Day-Lewis. He explained that he was sick and tired of performing.
This English artist is known for working with director Jim Sheridan back in 1989 and 1993, on the films “My Left Foot” and “In the name of the Father”. In an interview, Sheridan praised Day-Lewis’s talent and expressed his willingness to collaborate again. The director also mentioned how it was understandable for Day-Lewis to quit. As it turns out, they were in communication, but Day-Lewis has made up his mind and does not want anything else from this world.
One of the important factors that made Sheridan retire was the growing popularity of streaming platforms. Day-Lewis himself observed that the essence of movie watching has fundamentally shifted, stating that cinema has left the public sphere (the movie hall) and has turned into a private activity to be done from the comfort of one’s home whereby control and breaks can be guaranteed. Due to the fact that there were many hundreds of thousands of dollars in streaming platforms’ catalogs, Day-Lewis has in other times dubbed certain habits as an abundance of many without the functional requirements as the content received was often poor, however there were options. He was no longer fired up by the cinema, which he claimed in a number of interviews was one of the reasons he stopped his career as an actor.
One could imagine how in Day-lewis’ instances the urge to stop work operated in terms of a physic reaction in which quitting felt almost obtrusive. “There’s so many different people around the world that I’m hostile towards when, and I didn’t want to get subsumed into some other job,” he comments about himself wanting to find calm and not wanting to be completely and emotionally invested that his art demanded. For him its quitting truly felt in a positive way as it has been endless work for decades and this time should be different but no correct explanation can be found.
As much of a loss as it was for the film industry when he announced his retirement, the legacy of Daniel Day-Lewis will forever remain intact as one of the greatest actors of his generation. His films still evoke a sense of passion and admiration in the audiences, though he personally decided to stay away from the fandom.