10 Actors Who Gave Two WILDLY Different Performances In The Same Year
5. Daniel Day-Lewis - My Beautiful Launderette & A Room With A View
Daniel Day-Lewis is quite rightly canonised as one of our greatest actors, but back in 1985 audiences had no idea they were about to be introduced to a venerable master of the form.
Day-Lewis' big breakthrough came in November 1985 when he starred in the romantic dramedy My Beautiful Laundrette, playing gay street punk Johnny Burfoot.
The same day that the film had its limited release in the U.S., a second movie starring Day-Lewis also hit screens - James Ivory's romantic drama A Room with a View. Here, Day-Lewis instead took the role of Cecil Vyse, the unbearably snobby, pretentious fiance of the movie's main character, Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter).
Day-Lewis again received wide acclaim for his A Room with a View performance, with many critics noting how both distinct roles showcased his versatility as a performer. Most famously, Roger Ebert spoke of the duality in his review of My Beautiful Launderette:
"The character of Johnny may cause you to blink if you've just seen the wonderful A Room with a View. He is played by Daniel Day-Lewis, the same actor who, in Room, plays the heroine's affected fiancee, Cecil. Seeing these two performances side by side is an affirmation of the miracle of acting: That one man could play these two opposites is astonishing."