Daniel Day-Lewis Is Coming Out of Retirement to Act in a New Movie He Wrote With His Son

Daniel Day-Lewis’ son, Ronan, is using his nepo baby powers for good, bringing his father, the acclaimed actor, out of retirement for his first movie since 2017, per The Associated Press.

The 26-year-old Ronan is set to direct his father — a three-time Best Actor Oscar winner — in a new movie called Anemone, which Ronan and Daniel also wrote together. Fittingly, Anemone is reportedly set to explore “the intricate relationships between fathers, sons and brothers, and the dynamics of familial bonds.”

Along with Day-Lewis, Anemone will star Sean Bean and Samantha Morton; for Ronan, the film marks his directorial debut. Production is currently underway, with Focus Features and Plan B backing the project. 

“We could not be more excited to partner with a brilliant visual artist in Ronan Day-Lewis on his first feature film alongside Daniel Day-Lewis as his creative collaborator,” Focus Features chair Peter Kujawski said in a statement. “They have written a truly exceptional script, and we look forward to bringing their shared vision to audiences alongside the team at Plan B.”

Day-Lewis announced his “retirement” from acting back in 2017 ahead of the release of what was slated to be his final film, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread. At the time, his spokesperson said he would “no longer be working as an actor,” adding, “This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on the subject.”

A few months later, Day-Lewis did, however, make some further comments on the subject. While Day-Lewis often took long breaks in between movies to decompress and get some distance from the character he just played, he said in an interview with W that, while making Phantom Thread, he was struck by a particularly heavy “sadness.” 

“I haven’t figured it out,” he said at the time. “But it’s settled on me, and it’s just there. Not wanting to see the film is connected to the decision I’ve made to stop working as an actor. But it’s not why the sadness came to stay. That happened during the telling of the story, and I don’t really know why.”

Trending

He added that he wanted to “draw a line” with his retirement announcement: “I didn’t want to get sucked back into another project. All my life, I’ve mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don’t know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do.”

Luckily for all of, it seems like Day-Lewis is back in a place where acting is also something he has to do.