Dashing the hopes of those who thought that maybe someday an elderly Daniel Day-Lewis would go method as Santa Claus and travel the world delivering presents to children—or those who feared he’d go method as Anthony Hopkins and just start cashing paychecks—Variety reports that the three-time Best Actor Oscar winner has announced his retirement from acting. The announcement has been confirmed by Day-Lewis’ management, which says:
Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.
Whether Day-Lewis is for real, or simply preparing for a role where he plays an actor who’s about to retire, remains to be seen. But for the time being, we’ll just have to take him at his word and say that his final film role will be in his There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film, a drama set in the world of 1950s high fashion. Variety says the film is untitled, but IMDB and other outlets are calling it Phantom Thread. Either way, it’s due out on December 25, 2017.