Daniel Day-Lewis is officially back on screen.
The three-time Oscar winner will end an eight-year hiatus with Anemone, which is set to have its world premiere at the 63rd New York Film Festival and will open in limited release on October 3. The film’s first image has been released, offering an early reminder of the presence and intensity Day-Lewis brings to a role after his 2017 departure following Phantom Thread.
Anemone is the feature directorial debut of Day-Lewis’s son, painter and artist Ronan Day-Lewis. Father and son co-wrote the script, which the filmmakers are keeping tightly under wraps; festival notes describe the story as exploring “the complex and profound ties that exist between brothers, fathers, and sons.” The cast includes Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley, and Safia Oakley-Green, with Ben Fordesman, cinematographer of Love Lies Bleeding, shooting the picture.
This return is notable not only because Day-Lewis has stepped away from acting before — retiring after 1996’s The Boxer and again after Phantom Thread — but because the project pairs his legendary screen gravitas with a personal creative collaboration. The NYFF premiere and an October limited release position Anemone within awards-season visibility, and the pedigree on and off camera makes the film worth watching for critics and audiences alike. Last year, Martin Scorsese even suggested a possibility of another collaboration with Day-Lewis in the future, underlining the actor’s continued high standing in cinema.
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Brief summary:
Daniel Day-Lewis ends his eight-year retirement to star in Anemone, a festival-bound film directed and co-written by his son Ronan Day-Lewis. The cast includes Sean Bean and Samantha Morton; the film premieres at the New York Film Festival and opens in limited release on October 3.
A hopeful note:
This return offers a rare chance to see one of cinema’s most transformative actors again, and the father-son creative partnership could produce a deeply personal film that resonates with audiences and critics alike.