Daniel Day-Lewis Reveals What Drew Him to 'Phantom Thread' as His Final Film (Exclusive)
Daniel Day-Lewis is widely considered one of our greatest actors -- if not simply, the greatest. Upon the impending release of Phantom Thread, his latest collaboration with writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson following his Oscar-winning turn in There Will Be Blood, he will retire from the profession altogether.
So far, Phantom Thread has earned the illustrious performer nominations at the Golden Globes and EE British Academy Film Awards and an Academy Award nomination is all but guaranteed. In this featurette for the film, exclusively debuting on ET, Day-Lewis reveals what drew him to Phantom Thread.
"It was something fascinating about worlds of couture designers that were working in London during the '50s," he says. "Woodcock's world, the place that he comes from, was something that we could occupy and use that through which to tell a story."
In Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis plays dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock, and the film tracks his unexpected romance with a waitress (played by Vicky Krieps). "It's about love. Love your work. Love your art. And love your life," Krieps explains in the clip, while co-star Leslie Manville adds, "It's a film about human condition and how we all struggle to have something that makes us feel real and have purpose."
Watch the full trailer for Phantom Thread:
Here is the movie's official synopsis:
"Set in the glamour of 1950’s post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Manville) are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutants and dames with the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock’s life, providing the confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Krieps), who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love. With his latest film, Paul Thomas Anderson paints an illuminating portrait both of an artist on a creative journey, and the women who keep his world running. Phantom Thread is Paul Thomas Anderson’s eighth movie, and his second collaboration with Daniel Day-Lewis.
Phantom Thread opens nationwide on Jan. 19.
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