Sir Daniel Day-Lewis:Is he the GOAT?

Sir Daniel Day-Lewis is the only male actor to win 3 Academy Awards for best actor in a lead role. Is he the greatest male actor of all time?

 

Yes.

 

In my book, that would be this lady..

 

I’ll go as far as saying Day-Lewis is the best since peak De Niro, and among the five all-time greatest male actors. But the fact he’s won three best-actor Oscars doesn’t automatically make him the best for me.

 

Yes. And he left on a high note Leave the audience wanting more.

 

Nope. No comedic chops that I've seen. De Niro (Midnight Run) and Newman (Slap Shot) would make you laugh/smile and they could also do the heavy material.

 

I've never thought about it but I'm quite sure that Mr. Day-Lewis could convincingly play a goat, if he was asked to do so by a director. He'd probably prepare for the part by living in a field alongside real goats, eating what goats eat, etc.

 

Do you think he might have won a fourth Oscar if he had played Black Phillip in The Witch?

 

It's hard to say. He has only been in one movie that I consider five-stars. But the others clearly showcased his acting skills. He overacted some of them. Understandable because that's what those roles called for, but the movies were not my favorite.

 

My favorite of his was There Will Be Blood, where he played a terrible person who did terrible things... but somehow still made the viewer empathize with him.

 

Never saw it, sorry.

 

My favorite was Unbearable Lightness of Being. One of the few movies I can say is equal or better compared to the book, and Kundera is a remarkable writer. DDL's performance was amazing.

 

That's one of those films that I'll see one of these days when it plays the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago.

 

My favorite movie of his too. Not his performance as much as the movie itself, which is in my all-time top 10.

 

Lincoln was pretty incredible, as well, I thought.

GOAT? He's certainly rather good at it.

 

I thought his performance made the movie, and the character of Tomas appeared so natural and multidimensional despite it being an impossibly tough role. I don't think anyone else could have pulled it off but DDL made it look subtle and easy. The supporting cast was excellent too.

 

Do you know something I don't know about her?

 

No. Laurence Olivier would have that honor if it was up to me.

 

I agree he’s excellent in it. Btw, I was more impressed with his acting before his first retirement (i.e., up through The Boxer) than with his later performances. And for the most part I prefer those earlier movies too (Unbearable Lightness, My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father).

 

Lewis was amazing in Gangs Of New York, more caricatured/less nuanced in There Will Be Blood (a truly overrated film IMO).
Jimmy Stewart could out-act just about anybody here, and he had a reputation for actually being a decent person off-screen too.

 

Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

 

One of handful in the movies. Phil Hoffman was pretty damn good too. DeNiro of course. I never really liked Christian Bale but he is getting up there. We in the Deadwood writing staff had a lively discussion back in the day about Mr. Day-Lewis and his performance in Gangs of New York, before we started filming the show, obviously from the perspective of having a bad guy character in Al Swearengen with vague similarities to Bill the Butcher. I loved Day-Lewis’s performance, while Liz Sarnoff did not, finding it over the top. David Milch weighed in to break the tie, surprising Liz by agreeing with me. Dave said that the performance “insisted on itself”. In this case, that was a good thing.

 

Day-Lewis is so great, the Witch director might have considered showing Phillip’s mouth moving as he spoke to Thomasin.

 

One of the few movies thats in English but you need the subtitles on to completely understand the dialogue.

 

while i love DeNiro,Brando, Newman,Hoffman,Hanks,etc, one viewing of My Left Foot should convince anyone DD Lewis is just a hair ahead of anyone. my favorite acting performance ever.