2. In The Name Of The Father
In one of his frequent collaborations with Jim Sheridan (see also
My Left Foot & The Boxer), Day-Lewis portrayed the real-life Gerry Conlon, one of the so-called Guildford Four a group of petty criminals who were framed for the IRA bombings of pub in Guildford at the height of the Troubles. The kicker for Day-Lewis preparation was that the four some of whom werent even Irish were coerced into confessing to the bombings through threats and torture by the British police. After this, Conlon did time in prison and had tragedy put upon his family when the authorities came knocking for them as well. Consequently, the character of Gerry had to have both the air of a mentally-broken and suffering man, as well as possessing a physical appearance that suggested strain and torture. While other actors might decide to just convey this look off-the-cuff and with the help of a make-up department, Day-Lewis as always wanted to crawl inside his characters head, so he locked himself away. He isnt the only person to incarcerate himself to prepare for a role: Brad Pitt would later decide to spend the day in a Baltimore mental asylum in order to fully grasp the tics and mind-set of his mentally ill character in
Twelve Monkeys, earning himself considerable acting kudos by doing so. It was a brave, ballsy move, completely unorthodox and well-deserving of praise. Yet Day-Lewis preparation makes this look like childs play: he effectively tortured himself for weeks on end to get Conlons besieged character just right. He spent large stints of time living in an abandoned prison surviving off meagre prison rations in order to get a better perspective on what it would be like to be incarcerated. By doing so he lost all the (considerable) bulk hed gained during the filming of
Last of the Mohicans, resembling something akin to an emaciated stick. He also forced himself through torture techniques to achieve the correct emotional state, undertaking a 48 hour ordeal in the cell, eating slop and having buckets of ice-cold water thrown on him by what mustve been a pretty horrified crew. They were also encouraged to verbally abuse him. Day-Lewis effectively went through the same psychological torture as Conlon, entirely so he could act better, and quite frankly, thats insane; though a lot of actors do weight fluctuations to better fit a role, very few of them actually mentally break themselves in order to better emote. But if this list has taught you nothing else, its that Day-Lewis is no ordinary actor hes a walking ball of (outrageously talented) crazy. Such lengths led to an incredibly special, poignant performance, even by Day-Lewis own lofty standards. Helped along by the late, great Pete Postlethwaite as the titular father, his depiction of a man who starts out immature, rash and naive but is made intelligent and solemn by harrowing circumstances is always compelling, and earned him a second best actor nomination from the Academy.