It must be annoying to be a film star and have fans who are foolhardy to ask you to “do” a character of theirs for them. I imagine if anyone were brave enough to ask that to Daniel Day-Lewis, and he were willing, he would say something like “Come back in a year”.
It was Marlon Brando who became the original cinematic method actor, paving the way for the likes of Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Charlize Theron, and Jeremy Strong, just to name a few. Yet Daniel Day-Lewis is almost another breed. The behind the scene stories of him are ghastly: being carried around in between takes of My Left Foot (where his character had cerebral palsy), making his own canoe during The Last of the Mohicans, and even denying specific medical treatment during Gangs of New York because the meds were not around during the time of the film.
Even though his performances are not as often as one would like (he has been in and out of retirement, apparently appearing in a film this year directed by his son), his dedication is unparalleled. While I admit it was during his 3rd Best Actor win at the Oscars (a record) for 2012’s Lincoln that made me realize he is my man crush, it was his performance in his second win as Daniel Plainview in There will be Blood that still stands out above the rest.
One of the most respected and revered of all the 21st century films, it honestly took me multiple viewings to see the true artistry of Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic (mainly because I was too fixated on DDL). Plainview is indeed one of the most important fictional characters of the last 25 years, as layered and detailed as the oil he gets slathered on his face. The psyche of Daniel Plainview as we bare witness to the “competition within him” is so spellbinding we could easily forget the fine acting work of Paul Dano, Ciaran Hinds, and Dillon Freasier (in his only role to date as Daniel’s son, H.W.).
There are two frequent collaborators of PTA’s that can’t go unnoticed here. The first is his cinematographer Robert Elswit (who won the film it’s second Oscar). He brings the upteenth amount of ideas between light and dark to the screen.
Then there is composer Jonny Greenwood, a founder of the band Radiohead who (as far as I can tell) never composed a score for a film before this. I admit to being put off at first by the music when I first heard it, but now realize it is the perfect choice. It is supposed to be dismal, weird, abstract, and uneasy. Just like Plainview is.
Even with all there is to discover, I still find myself going back to DDL (I have not even mentioned how his voice sounds like he literally is drinking oil on a daily basis, or how I am mystified at how he made the elder version of Plainview walk like an old skeleton). The century may have given us a surfeit of powerhouse performances (a few that come to mind include Charlize Theron in Monster, Helen Mirren in The Queen, Denzel Washington in Training Day, and Meryl Streep in…well, take your pick). Yet no one else can get to the levels of human behavior like Day-Lewis.
He is truly still drinking up everyone’s milkshake.
I’m finished!
(As of this writing, There Will Be Blood is available to stream on Paramount Plus, as well as rent on Kanopy and Amazon).
Nothing else to say 