Daniel Day-Lewis - The Biography
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Regarded by many as the finest actor of his generation, Daniel Day-Lewis has become one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. His diverse performances in roles such as cerebral palsy sufferer Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Butcher Bill in Gangs of New York have cemented his reputation as a chameleon method actor. Yet behind the on-screen personas and theatrical masks lies a complex figure about whom relatively little is really known. Acclaimed biographer Laura Jackson has spoken to many close friends of the actor, including Dame Judi Dench and Simon Callow, and has provided us with a fascinating insight into this intense and talented star. As well as a wonderful portrait of his creative life, this book also reveals Day-Lewis's past relationships with his co-stars and how he has found happiness with Arthur Miller's daughter Rebecca. There are very few books about this reclusive and chameleon-like actor despite his award winning film roles and ever increasingly popularity. His new Oscar & Bafta nominated movie Lincoln is scheduled for UK release early 2013.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
There was a rumor that introspective, sinewy and Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis spent time as a cobbler in Florence to get away from the stress of show business. It's an unsolved myth that suits Lewis' reputation for aloofness toward his audience, perhaps stemming from his insecurities about his profession. The problem with acting, he says, is "you always believe you're a fraud." His first appearance on film as a young vandal in Sunday Bloody Sunday was a seamless transition for Lewis, who was in the middle of an upstart adolescence, rebelling against his father, acclaimed poet Cecil Day-Lewis, and the culture of English private schools. Yet later, when confronted with characters very much unlike him, he was still able to strike the right note, as he did in his breakthrough role in My Beautiful Laundrette, and in the films that shot him to heartthrob status, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Last of the Mohicans. Jackson, author of numerous celebrity biographies including those of Mick Jagger and Bono, inventories Lewis' film and stage roles, revealing the actor's immersion into his work. Other than the revelations of Lewis' dyslexia, there are few surprises in learning that he can be difficult, quite committed to his roles and easily spooked by his own personal ghosts, as was evidenced by his vacating the stage in the middle of a performance of Hamlet. While the depiction here syncs with popular perceptions of Lewis, a son of privilege and intellectual elites, the insight into his preparation, choice of roles and motivations might serve well the budding actor looking for inspiration. Photos.
