best film: There Will Be Blood. There’s nothing terribly close so this film is absolutely huge for DDL’s resume. As of now it’s his lone masterpiece (I’m excited to revisit Phantom Thread after twice in theater and putting in my top 5 of 2017) but currently the next closest film is The Last of the Mohicans—which is just a spectacular film from Michael Mann. But back to There Will Be Blood—I have a 10-year wait period for all films in my top 100 (so technically TWBB isn’t in my top 100 since I haven’t updated it recently) but I’m confident of it’s top 100 status as I do have precedent and an easy comparison with other films in the PT Anderson universe. I have Boogie Nights at #93 of all-time but I think TWBB is the stronger film— high praise indeed.
best performance: There Will Be Blood. There’s frankly nothing terribly close here either. DDL has had a splendid career of course, which I’ll get to more in a second, but whatever film you want to go with as his second best (honestly anything from #2 to #8 below won’t get much of a fight from me) there can be no debating his zenith or apex. DDL’s Daniel Plainview is one of cinema’s greatest characters and I truly believe it to be one of the 10 greatest performance of all-time. He’s a whirlwind of greed and mania—truly hauntingly monomaniacal. He gets the long silent opening, the church scene with Dano, scenes with his brother’s (faux) death, the set piece oil rig explosion and the epic, devastating finale. If you’re talking about the best acting of all-time you should not go long before getting to this performance.
stylistic innovations/traits: Day-Lewis has a total of 15 films in the archives (2 of which are cameos very early in his career), Won three Academy Awards and was nominated a total of six times. He’s famous for his dedication to acting– method, staying in character out of scenes, building his canoe in Last of the Mohicans, refusing a warmer coat while shooting Gangs of New York even though he was sick because his character wouldn’t have had it—countless stories like this. It translated to nearly unparalleled intensity and levels of authenticity on the screen. He can slip away into a character (My Left Foot, Lincoln) as well as anyone. DDL can brilliantly underplay a role (Age of Innocence) and brilliantly overplay one (Gangs of New York). He’s known for taking long periods of time off between roles, working infrequently (I’ve basically heard he’s “retired” since 1999 when I started getting serious about film). Since 1989 he’s been in 12 total films and has given one of the best 5 performances of the year 8 times out of those 12. That’s absolutely incredible. In 1989 he gives the 5th best performance, in 1992 he gives the 4th (in the 4th best film of the year), and so on…
directors worked with: Sheridan (3), PT Anderson (2) and Scorsese (2)— and then once a piece with Spielberg and Michael Mann
Top 10 Performances:
- There Will Be Blood
- Gangs of New York
- Phantom Thread
- In the Name of the Father
- The Age of Innocence
- The Last of the Mohicans
- Lincoln
- My Left Foot
- The Boxer
- My Beautiful Laundrette
Archiveable films
| 1971- Sunday Bloody Sunday |
| 1982- Gandhi |
| 1985- The Beautiful Laundrette |
| 1986- A Room With a View |
| 1988- The Unbearable Lightness of Being |
| 1989- My Left Foot |
| 1992- The Last of the Mohicans |
| 1993- In the Name of the Father |
| 1993- The Age of Innocence |
| 1996- The Crucible |
| 1997- The Boxer |
| 2002- Gangs of New York |
| 2007- There Will Be Blood |
| 2012- Lincoln |
| 2017- Phantom Thread |
If DDL and Pesci are both done, who had the better swan song.
@AP – haha good question– I’ll take either one. I’ll say Pesci because I don’t think DDL is done. Also, expectations may play a part- I was skeptical of the old guys in The Irishman getting the band back together so to speak— on the other hand– I think I expect DDL to levitate at this point when he’s in a new film
You may be right. However, Day-Lewis has announced that he is done with acting and it’s possible he could change that but for now he is not going to appear in any films, which may have been foreshadowed by a five year wait between Lincoln and Phantom Thread.
Do you think he should have won the oscar in 2002 and 2017
@Janith- I think he, Edward Norton and Adam Sandler all have a good case for the best male lead in 2002. Either DDL or Gosling in Blade Runner 2049 in Phantom Thread. If forced to choose I may give 2002 to Sandler and 2017 to DDL now.
I doubt he’s going to act again, he clearly cares about his brand he’s like Tarantino, compare that to someone like De Niro who doesn’t mind producing trash
IMHO, 2012 is a robbery. Phœnix deserved the best actor award.
In 89’, i vote Cruise & 02’, Day Lewis.
Is Jim Sheridan in the top 200 directors of all time?His top 5 films(My left foot,in the name of the father,the boxer,in america,brothers)are strong.
@ Janith– Jim Sheridan is not
Do you think his filmography isnt strong enough to crack the top 200?Baz Luhrmann cracked the top 200 with only 3 archivable films
@Janith– It’s not all about the sheer volume of films. Baz’s Moulin Rouge is worth more than many Jim Sheridan films
Is A Room with a view his 11th best performance?
@Malith– it is not
So what is his 11th best performance?The Crucible?
So what’s his 11th best-Crucible or Unbearable lightness of being?
What do you think?
From these three performances outside his top 10 what is his strongest and what is his weakest(The unbearable lightness of being,The Crucible,A room with a view)
From these three performances outside his top 10 what is his weakest and what is his strongest?(The unbearable lightness of being,a room with a view,The Crucible)
What’s that cliché about the definition of insanity again? 😛
You said all of his performances till My Left Foot can be his 2nd best.So do you think his work in The Boxer is weak compared to the other eight?I haven’t seen The Boxer.So just asking.
If DDL had not been a part of There Will Be Blood or the film had never existed, roughly where would he land on the best actors list? The lack of masterpiece would be a major drawback, but he would still have many years in which he gives one of the best performances.
It’s among the best performances in cinematic history. I think he would be a very well-respected actor, but Plainview put him on a level above almost all others. He has plenty of other amazing performances (particularly Gangs of New York, robbed of an Oscar for that one-just image a 5-Oscar DDL with wins for it and In the Name of the Father?), but that one was like none other.
@Graham- well as good as DDL has been in so many films– as I mention on the page here- There Will Be Blood is very important to his career. I think without it he the falls to at least #16– and more than likely tumbles down and lands between 20-40 somewhere.
I totally agree with you, Zane. If you look at the comments on the It’s a Wonderful Life page I have a list of the best acting performances and I have TWBB in the top five. It is intense, powerful acting.
Sounds about right, Drake. Day-Lewis would be sort of a Laurence Olivier case without his greatest film, although having work with PTA, Spielberg, and Scorsese that he would still have is a great indicator of acting prowess.
Very interesting discussion, i see that you complain that Dicaprio was not in a single top 10 movie of the decade (change in the past decade)
DDL is the actor with the weakest top 20 resume, right?
The only thing that separates Dicaprio and DDL is Daniel Plainview.
In fact, Brad Pitt has a resume far superior to DDL even if he never achieves a momentous performance as Daniel Plainview.
I recently revisited Lincoln and I continue to maintain that it is terribly underrated here. It features some of the best compositions and most gorgeous lighting of Spielberg’s career, Tony Kushner’s screenplay is exquisite (among the best of the current century), and DDL’s performance is utterly sublime and stands shoulder to shoulder with Phoenix’s work from the same year.
@Matt Harris- thank you for sharing- I’m going to push this one closer to the front of the line for a rewatch
Isn’t DDL great in The Boxer(1997)?I heard that the amount of training he got for the role was such that he could have turned into a professional boxer.
Is there a big gap between the top 8 and Boxer?
Is The Crucible(1996) DDL’s 11th best performance?
Above you say the 2nd best film of DDL is Last Of The Mohicans.But what about The Age of Innocence and Phantom Thread.They are fantastic.I’d say these 4 films(There Will be Blood,Age of Innocence,Phantom Thread and Last of the Mohicans) are better than any film that Laurence Olivier starred in his career.So even without TWBB his resume is strong.
@Anderson- agreed- but “strong” is relative- I mean we’re talking about the top 10 here. These four aren’t “strong” in that context.
@Drake Do you think it would have been deserved if DDL got oscar nominated for Last of the Mohicans(1992) and The Age Of Innocence(1993)?
I think he totally deserved it. The age of innocence and in the name of the father were both released in 1993 and he could have gotten nominated for only one but i think he deserved it for last mohicans.
@Anderson- I do think it would have been deserved
For all of his excellence in going big, DDL’s talent for understatement is something of an unsung hero for many films. You can’t take your eyes off of him in There Will be Blood (a performance for the ages), he’s essentially on fire in that film and then you go off and watch him in the Age of Innocence and it’s hard to believe that it can be through the same body and mind that one constructs these two characters. It’s very impressive. I remember there is a league of people out there who still think that the 1993 Oscar nom should have gone to his performance in the Age of Innocence, and while I disagree (In the Name of the Father is a hell of a film), I can see it to a degree. I often think of the Unbearable Lightness of Being – it’s clear that the standout performers are Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche, but I don’t think one should sleep on him. He gets to play suave on the surface and yet really quiet and introspective in many ways (and a somewhat unlikeable character). I mean, the writing is clearly on the side of the ladies’ here, and there’s infinite depth to the characters of Teresa and Sabina which allows Binoche and Olin to really go places and they both excel, but for the balance between these stark and definitive incarnations of the heaviness and lightness of being (respectively) to be established, there is need for a more toned down performance. DDL provides the quiet centre for that journey and comes off looking quite good, merely one year before he shook the world with My Left Foot. It’s a shame the Kundera adaptation wasn’t directed by someone else. It is kind of unadaptable, but the film falls short in many ways and the book is much superior. I think of Bertolucci as someone who could have gone to interesting directions with it, or Kieslowski (it would be interesting to see how he would handle the sexual aspect of the content). I’d also speak of Phantom Thread, but I’m exactly three years away from my last viewing and not confident enough to do justice to both the film and his work in it, so I’ll leave it there for now. Anyway. That was a short ode to DDL’s quieter turns, and I also wanted to point out that I completely agree with your #1 to #4 ranking of his performances. Though I think that placing My Left Foot as #8 is a little unfair. These kinds of performances generally do feel like a stunt, and especially so early on, it’s almost a miracle that this film doesn’t come off as offensive. But I thought he was brilliant and one of the few actors I can think of who pulled off such a character in a convincing enough and respectful way. I would have it as #5. Curious to see where he will land with the yearly updates.
@Georg- this is great- thanks for putting this together. So if My Left Foot is #5- which ones on my list are getting bumped below it.
@Drake- so I’ll start by saying I haven’t watched the Boxer and My Beautiful Launderette, so I don’t really know what I’d think about them. I haven’t watched Lincoln in a long time, but I remember thinking it didn’t resonate with me as much as My Left Foot. I also remember somewhat disliking the fact that he was en route to an Oscar for it. There are many film buffs who are in love with his Lincoln, in the sense that he disappears into the character and one can’t see him working, whereas you can see the work in My Left Foot. I completely respect that, but I don’t really feel that way. Looking at it objectively, I really think My Left Foot is superior. The Age of Innocence is a really good one, and I think it warrants a #5 slot, but if we move My Left Foot to that spot, then I guess #6 is great. He’s really good in the Last of the Mohicans, admittedly, and the role adds to his range. I don’t mind its being at #6 or #7. But all that is nitpicking, really, since I fully agree with your top picks and overall I think you’ve done a wonderful overview of his best work.