Ode – 8 : To Daniel Day-Lewis

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA           FEBRUARY 27 , 2013           08.20 P.M.

Daniel Day – Lewis won the Oscar for the Best Actor [ Male ] for Steven Spielberg’s ” Lincoln ” [ 2012 ] and created history . He became the first and only male actor of Hollywood to get three Oscars in the main lead category . His other two Oscar-winning roles are ” My Left Foot ” [ 1989 ] and ” There Will Be Blood ” [ 2007 ] .

I first came to know about Daniel in 1989 . In 1989 I came to Mumbai and took admission in Ashha Chandra’s acting classes . That year’s Oscars were announced and Ashha Ji had a show of ” My Left Foot “ for all the students of her academy . We were watching the movie and were mesmerized by the performance of the lead actor Daniel Day – Lewis . It was my first encounter with Daniel  . After watching ” My Left Foot ” , I was forced to believe that the protagonist is paraplegic in his real life too . My perception changed when I saw his next movie , ” The Bounty “ . Later on I watched ” The Last of The Mohicans “ and ” Gangs of New York ” and I became a life-long fan of the actor . ” Lincoln “ only fortifies my admiration and regard for the actor . It speaks volumes that a British and Irish national Daniel , plays the most revered character of American history so convincingly .

Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He is one of the most acclaimed actors of this generation . His work has earned numerous awards, including five nominations for the Academy Awards, which resulted in three wins, respectively, for his portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989), Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007), and Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (2012), a feat which makes him the only male actor in history to gather three wins in the leading category.

Cover of My Left Foot (Special Edition)

Cover of There Will Be Blood [Blu-ray]

Lewis has also been nominated for six BAFTA Awards, with four wins, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Critic’s Choice Awards, as well as garnering seven Golden Globe nominations, winning twice.

Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. The son of Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis and actress Jill Balcon , he was born and grew up in London . Despite his traditional actor training at the Bristol Old Vic, he is considered to be a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. He often remains completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedules of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health .

He reportedly demanded and got 1 year for preparing the character of Abraham Lincoln . He read almost 100 books written about the president and gave new interpretation to the character . He made his voice high pitch instead of booming voice of Lincoln . Needless to say that his interpretation is totally accepted by the puritan critics and lapped by the discerning masses .

Filmography of Daniel Day-Lewis :

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1982	Gandhi	Colin
1984	The Bounty	John Fryer
1985	My Beautiful Laundrette	Johnny
1985	A Room with a View	Cecil Vyse
1986	Nanou	Maxo
1988	The Unbearable Lightness of Being	Tomas
1988	Stars and Bars	Henderson Dores
1989	Eversmile, New Jersey	Dr. Fergus O’Connell
1989	My Left Foot	Christy Brown
1992	The Last of the Mohicans	Hawkeye (Nathaniel Poe)
1993	The Age of Innocence	Newland Archer
1993	In the Name of the Father	Gerry Conlon
1996	The Crucible	John Proctor
1997	The Boxer	Danny Flynn
2002	Gangs of New York	Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting
2005	The Ballad of Jack and Rose	Jack Slavin
2007	There Will Be Blood	Daniel Plainview
2009	Nine	Guido Contini
2012	Lincoln	Abraham Lincoln

My admiration for him grows every time when I go through this filmography . Such variety and such array of histrionics is unparalleled in the annals of cinema .

As an acting tutor I wish and desire to produce at least one Daniel Day-Lewis in my life-time . My acting academy ,  Vidur’s Kreating Charakters , would feel a sense of accomplishment if it could boast of at least one alumni like Daniel Day-Lewis . Until then it is endless wait .

VIDUR

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA

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