Unequivocally convincing: Why ‘My Left Foot’ is Daniel Day Lewis’ defining role
Watching a truly great actor takes no effort at all, with the performer in question leading you by the hand into a state of complete hypnotic reassurance, convincing you in a split second that you’re not looking at an actor but rather an entirely convincing character. It’s something that British actor Daniel Day-Lewis unequivocally mastered throughout his time in the Hollywood limelight, becoming a figure of great adulation who seemed to elevate himself above the artistic profession, rubbing shoulders with the true greats of Marlon Brando and Meryl Streep.
Taking to the industry in the 1980s, Day-Lewis went on to dominate cinema for multiple decades, earning three Academy Awards for his unparalleled performances in such movies as Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. Quitting while he was ahead, announcing his retirement from acting in 2024, he leaves behind an unparalleled filmography that transformed how screen acting was executed in the 21st century.
Indeed, just like how Marlon Brando popularised method acting after his incomparable success in the 1970s, prompting many others to take up the practice, Day-Lewis’ performances, which proved so utterly convincing time and time again, eventually attracted the eyes of his peers. Without his influence, it’s unlikely such copycats as Christian Bale and Joaquin Phoenix would be thriving in the industry.
This dedication to his own personal form of ‘The Method’ came during his Oscar-winning performance as the real-life painter Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy and learned to create art with his foot, in the 1989 film My Left Foot. Refusing to break character throughout the entire shoot, Day-Lewis tested the limits of his method, forcing crew members to move him around the set in a wheelchair and even spoon-feeding him during lunch breaks.
Yet, it was this same commitment to his craft that earned him such plaudits, with critics praising him for his utterly absorbing performance, which totally embodied Brown’s identity in physicality and personality. Day-Lewis’ performance presented itself as something unprecedented in modern cinema, with the British actor having no care at all about the preservation of any star persona, dedicating each and every one of the scenes to the quality of the film itself, with no moment of grand personal expression that breaks the confines of his own physically restricting performance.
The result is a performance that feels so utterly authentic that his every utterance seems to stop time and draw the breath of the viewer, crafting an identity that seeps far below the actor’s surface and into his mind. Take the restaurant scene, for example, in which he finds out that his lover is to be married. The sorrow, anger and frustration that build up behind his eyes feel so heartbreakingly genuine that the actor and character feel totally inseparable.
Recognising quite how deeply his performance resonated with critics and audiences gave validity to Day-Lewis’ method acting approach, utilising similar techniques while taking on the role of Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood and the titular President in Spielberg’s Lincoln. Indeed, the low-stakes platform of Jim Sheridan’s Irish-British co-production provided the perfect environment for the actor to experiment, with his personal findings taking him to the pinnacle of cinematic performance.