Though I'm still convinced Daniel Day-Lewis is prepping for his next role as the world's greatest actor who retires from acting, the star of Phantom Thread has revealed why he'll supposedly really quit acting after the upcoming movie.
In a new interview with W, he reveals how difficult it was making Phantom Thread, which took an emotional toll on both him and director Paul Thomas Anderson.
"Before making the film, I didn't know I was going to stop acting," Day-Lewis said of Phantom Thread. "I do know that Paul [Thomas Anderson] and I laughed a lot before we made the movie. And then we stopped laughing because we were both overwhelmed by a sense of sadness. That took us by surprise: We didn't realise what we had given birth to. It was hard to live with. And still is."
In the interview he said that he has not and will not see Phantom Thread, which had something to do with his decision. Although he admits that he hasn't figured out exactly why he'll quit acting, he told W:
"It's settled on me, and it's just there. Not wanting to see the film is connected to the decision I've made to stop working as an actor. But it's not why the sadness came to stay. That happened during the telling of the story, and I don't really know why."
In June, long before Phantom Thread had been finished, Day-Lewis put out a statement about his decision to retire from acting.
"I knew it was uncharacteristic to put out a statement," Day-Lewis said. "But I did want to draw a line. I didn't want to get sucked back into another project. All my life, I've mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don't know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do."
