Daniel day-lewis played the heroic Hawkeye in the inspirational epic The Last of the Mohicans, one of many roles in his illustrious career.
He has the most paranoid and research spirit of an artist, and also has the lowest tone and simple character of ordinary people. Whether it's Bill the villain butcher played in "The Gangsters of New York" or U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in "Lincoln", he portrayed the character in three points.
Lewis's extraordinary way of acting has made many film and television and animation practitioners compete to study and draw inspiration from it. Many animation masters (including Pixar animators) also learned a lot of techniques from Lewis's performances to improve the character's expressiveness.
Rumor has it: As soon as Lewis enters the set, he becomes a character and never leaves for a second. From most of his life, three Oscars were crowned, but he only starred in a few dozen works, and each one of them is in dialogue with the times, coexisting with the role, and coexisting with the movie. The character and him achieve each other, and the role is his real "mask".
"i like things that make you grit your teeth. i like tucking my chin in and sort of leading into the storm. i like that feeling. i like it a lot.”
- daniel day-lewis
There are actors, and then there are good artists. Humphrey Bogart, Meryl Streep, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson – these artists dominate the screen and define the roles they play forever. Any idea of an alternative that includes these roles is incredible.
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor three times in an unprecedented number of times, Lewis is a devout actor who is completely immersed in the way he performs, an actor who becomes the character he creates.
From playing a man with cerebral palsy to playing one of the most important leaders in American history, not many actors have been able to play such a wide range of roles and receive such wide acclaim.
Lewis and Lena Oren starred in The Unbearable Lightness of Life, a film directed by Philip Kaufman that tells the story of a man struggling for his sexual freedom.
"i suppose i have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it’s no problem for me to believe that i’m somebody else.”
Today, we're going to look at several of his performances from a sample of four films. In each work, we can see that Lewis's creation is not only completely original, but he completely summarizes the various ways of human expression: mental, physical, and emotional.
New York Gangster (2002)
Martin Scorsese's vivid depiction of "The New York Gangster" in the United States at the turn of the century is sometimes even somewhat cartoonish. Lewis plays Bill, a charismatic villain but violent but principled but violent man who leads a group of characters in New York's Five Points district for the rights of the underworld in the late 19th century.
In this charismatic scene, Lewis teaches us a lesson in presence, rhythm and texture. Moments of stillness contrast decisive action, giving weight to the scene and amplifying tension.
See how he balances body language, hesitant voices, and cold eyes, all of which ultimately make up a living character, creating a character that both interests and frightens the audience.
, duration 02:17
As he reminisces about the past, we follow him into his heart and feel his charming, warm, and lovely side. In the blink of an eye, a change in tone of voice pushes us and his rival (Amsterdam, played by Leonardo DiCaprio) back in an instant, as if he had us, as if we were here just because he made us here.
After that, he pulled us back, forced us to listen carefully, and played us between the palms of his hands, like he and his characters did. The scene ended with a series of vivid body movements, which also marked the successful end of the story.
"New York Gangster" may not be one of legendary director Martin Scorsese's best works, but Lewis's Butcher Bill shines, stealing the limelight from the other characters in each scene with his body, voice, and control of all the scenes.
My Left Foot (1989)
In Director Jim Sheridan's touching biography My Left Foot, Lewis plays the true story of Cerebral Palsy Christie Brown, a spasmodic quadriplegic who later became a successful writer, poet and artist on his left foot alone.
This is an unusually vulnerable character, inspiring and unsentimental. Lewis created a completely convincing character who challenged the environment in which he was and how we perceived people living in circumstances that we could not understand.
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In this five-minute scene, Lewis's personality in the performance is not completely transformed. He erupted into a kind of physical performance, first standing still, then making movements. Here, the physical challenge is amplified by the character's deep emotions and expressions of loneliness, both creating discomfort and stimulating empathy in the audience.
Look closely at how tension is established and eventually expressed in violent form, and the result is tremendous sadness. Director Jim Sheridan's ingenious treatment of the shot, in which the camera shifts to other characters during Christie's state change, gives more perspective to the darkness and tragedy of human behavior
The film is inspiring and the first of Lewis's three Oscars to win, and the performance is impressive.
Blood Is Coming (2007)
Lewis plays oil explorer Daniel Plainview in Blood Is Coming, a film directed by p.t. Anderson that tells the story of a man's family, faith, and wealth that eventually leads to madness.
In these two scenes in the film, Daniel first meets with some of the company's people who intend to buy his land. At the end of the video, Plainview is furious at being offended by the man's remarks. But before that, whether the other person was aggressive or condescending, he simply verbally threatened the other party to show his position.
In the second scene, he and his young son are in a restaurant, annoyed by the arrival and appearance of those same enemies. In this scene, the acting really shines, and we begin to see his pride and perception of injustice.
His eyes were angry, and you could see his mischievous gestures with napkins, and his eccentric mockery, simply expressing his displeasure when he couldn't bear to stay where he was. The last action of drinking someone else's whiskey is the perfect presentation of a proud and majestic man.
This action shows his character. The film begins with a wonderful scene where his character falls into a mine and breaks his leg, then climbs back into town.
This scene invisibly shows the character's most admirable qualities – courage and determination. Even though he was later morally unable to justify his heinous behavior, the audience still appreciated and respected the character.
Lincoln (2012)
In this film directed by Stephen Spielberg, we witness one of Lewis's most brilliant works, playing Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. The actor is rumored to have spent 8 months figuring out and learning the president's voice, posture, sitting posture and gestures.
These rumors lead us to believe that Lincoln could not have walked or talked in a different way. It reminds me of Gilbert Stewart's painting of George Washington, the first president of the United States, also known as the Portrait of Langston.
"a voice is such a deep, personal reflection of character.”
At key moments in the film, Lewis's character expresses not only his anxiety, but also his unwavering determination to abolish slavery. The viewer can not only see his powerful body language, but also witness his control of the scene through sound, which undoubtedly deeply reveals his disappointment in the political process and the pain he has brought.
In this part of the scene, the spoken language guides the body movement step by step. As the plot progresses, he becomes more active, his motivation begins to extend more and more to his body, and his strength increases with his anger and determination. This is an upgrade of the entire human way of acting and expressing.
Lewis has garnered so much accolades and reviews these days, yet it's easy to overlook all of this as another compliment to the actor's current achievements. But if we do, we forget to really study and understand them.
We must constantly seek out and analyze the techniques, forms, and intentions of great art in order to understand it, to be moved by it, and to get closer to it in the work of the animators themselves.
"at a certain age it just became apparent to me that this was probably the work that i would have to do.”
At the end of the day, animators need to be inspired by observing and listening, because we always need inspiration. With the dedication of an actor, Lewis shows the audience the inclusiveness of performance: absorbing understanding, and then using his own understanding to fully extricate, even showing more than learning to absorb.
This reminds us that when our craft begins to define us and our craft, a great symbiotic relationship is established. It's a great joy for us as artists.
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