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Disparate Dan

Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans
  • Posted at 12:31pm
  • 01 February 2008
  • by AndrewCollins-RT

When I saw a preview of Paul Thomas Anderson's oil-prospecting epic There Will Be Blood before Christmas, one thing seemed certain: the performance by Daniel Day-Lewis as "black gold" tycoon Daniel Plainview had Oscar written all over it.

I don't claim Mystic Meg status for spotting that, but I was right. Thus far, he's picked up a Golden Globe and a clutch of Critics' Circle awards. Now he's been nominated for a Bafta and an Oscar, and seems certain to win both.

Among his other roles – as disparate as a 19th-century Manhattan tribal chieftain in Gangs of New York, an adopted native American scout in The Last of the Mohicans and as Irish artist and poet Christy Brown in My Left Foot – it's hard to think of one that didn't act as an awards magnet.

So is Day-Lewis really that good? To a degree, yes. His renowned skill and dedication are still best illustrated by his Oscar-winning turn in the aforementioned My Left Foot, in which, as a man with cerebral palsy, he mastered the art of placing a needle on a record with his left toe.

Detractors say he overacts and takes himself too seriously. The character of Plainview might invite such criticism, but I'm personally intoxicated by his mannered style. Day-Lewis is rarely accused of "phoning in" a performance.

Most actors of his vintage – he's 50 – have built up a vast CV, bulked out with plenty of average fare. By picking and choosing carefully, he's made fewer than 20 films since the early 1980s – including A Room with a View and My Beautiful Laundrette – with only a handful of these overlooked come awards season. By contrast, contemporary and fellow Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen has made around 40 films, and the younger Johnny Depp has chalked up a similar figure.

So, the moral seems to be, work less, and win more. Avoiding interviews helps to maintain the mystique, and then . . . oh yes, act your socks off at every opportunity.

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