In a world where most good things become over familiar, Daniel Day-Lewis is like a comet that streaks across the sky every five years to shame other actors on their lack of dedication. We haven’t seen Day-Lewis since he won the Oscar for his title role in “Lincoln” and supposedly the upcoming “Phantom Thread” will be his last ever film role. To be fair, he’s claimed this before, in the ’90s when he disappeared and reappeared as a cobbler in Italy, but this time actually feels final and it is true that the three-time Best Actor winner has little left to prove.
If “Phantom Thread” is really his last film, cinephiles can take consolation in the fact that it should be great, reconnecting Day-Lewis with the visionary Paul Thomas Anderson, the team behind cinema’s most menacing milkshake monologue in 2007’s “There Will Be Blood.” All that is known about the plot is that it takes place in the milieu of 1950’s high fashion and Day-Lewis’ character is based on the exacting designer Charles James (Since Day-Lewis wants to quit acting to make clothes, should we blame Anderson for immersing him in this world?).
READ MORE: Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Phantom Thread’: A New, Detailed Synopsis Revealed
Lesley Manville, Richard Graham, and Vicky Krieps round out the cast. Anderson will be reteaming with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, who has worked on the soundtracks of Anderson’s last three features, as well as appearing before the camera in Anderson’s recent short film “Junun.” Intriguingly, Anderson is taking even greater responsibility behind the camera by serving as his own Director of Photography.
While the real Charles James was a native Brit who achieved most of his fame in the U.S., “Phantom Thread” appears to be set in England, an interesting departure considering all of Anderson’s previous features have portrayed distinctly American settings.
Based on nothing but being an Anderson film, “Phantom Thread” could easily be one of the best films of the year, but the fact that it re-teams him with Day-Lewis, in a valedictory performance, suggests this could be one of the films of the decade. “Phantom Thread” will be released on December 25th.
