Daniel Day-Lewis’ son Ronan Day-Lewis addressed his father only by the name of his character while filming their new drama Anemone
In a continuation of the star’s famous method acting, Daniel Day-Lewis’ son Ronan Day-Lewis addressed his father only by the name of his character while filming their new drama Anemone.
Daniel Day-Lewis’ son Ronan Day-Lewis addressed his father only by the name of his character while filming their new drama Anemone.
In keeping with the Oscar-winning actor’s notorious dedication to method acting, the 68-year-old star, long known for immersing himself completely in his roles, insisted on being called Ray throughout the shoot.
Ronan told Variety: “It was intuitive that everyone called him Ray on set, and I did too. But obviously I was also seeing him all the time offset, and that would have been a bit weird if I was calling him Ray then. It was Dad offset, always Dad.”
In the film, the character of Ray is a hermit haunted by a dark secret, at the centre of the father-and-son collaboration that marks 28-year-old Ronan’s debut feature as a director.
The film, which also stars Sean Bean, will open in limited release on October 3.
Growing up, Ronan added he never quite grasped what his father was doing when he took on his famously punishing roles – from being carried around in a wheelchair for My Left Foot to living in the wilderness for The Last of the Mohicans and training for years as a tailor for The Phantom Thread.
He said: “His work was so mysterious to me. It was always kind of behind a curtain. Others mythologised him and I absorbed that.
“He’s my dad, but then also he had this other life that he would kind of disappear into in these films he would do.
“Getting to see that process from this completely different vantage point was pretty thrilling. There were aspects of it that are still a mystery to me, because so much of what he does and the way he works to make these people feel like real human beings is kind of mystical.”
Ronan admitted he was wary about the perception of directing his father in his first feature.
He said: “I knew that the baggage that would be attached to working with my dad and also the pressure that would be attached to that.
“I definitely had some ambivalence. I wanted to carve my own path, and I foresaw how it might be perceived. There’s rightfully been a lot of talk about nepotism.’
Yet the opportunity proved too powerful to resist.
A successful painter with shows in New York and Los Angeles, Ronan said: “It’s such a cosmically lucky thing to be able to work with your parent in this way. Ten years from now, I’d be kicking myself if I’d passed it up.”
The idea of making something together began with Daniel himself, Ronan said.
He added: “The archetype of brotherhood and the beauty and tragedy of that archetype felt like something we wanted to explore.”
Anemone tells the story of two estranged brothers, played by Daniel and Sean, who reconnect in the wake of a family crisis.
