Daniel Day--Lewis Speaks

At a certain age it just became apparent to me that this was probably the work that I would have to do.
Daniel Day-Lewis

Everybody has to know for themselves what they're capable of.
Daniel Day-Lewis

How people are around a director, it really does affect everything, every detail of the life of the movie.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I don't know what impression you might have of the way I live. I live in a quiet place. I do not live as a hermit, though other people would prefer it if I did.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I feel less often compelled to do the work than I was in the past.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I find it easier to work when it's quiet.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I hate wasting people's time.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I made the film in spite of Harvey, not because of Harvey.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I see a lot of movies. I love films as a spectator, and that's never obscured by the part of me that does the work myself. I just love going to the movies.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I suppose I have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it's no problem for me to believe that I'm somebody else.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I suppose the place where I live is fairly remote, it would seem remote to some people.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I think I have a strange relationship with time. I'm not really aware of that time passing. I don't feel that I'm wasteful with time. But I'm not aware of it passing.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I think some actors thrive on working at a much greater pace than I do.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I try to honor that bargain that I made with myself that I wouldn't do this work unless I really felt the need to. I just didn't see the point.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I was a savage for so many years of my life. There was some seed of determination in me that I was not conscious of. I was mostly consciously getting into trouble and drunk.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I would wish for any one of my colleagues to have the experience of working with Martin Scorsese once in their lifetime.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I'm not always doing this work, but whatever I'm doing when I'm not doing this work seems to be as much a part of this as anything else.
Daniel Day-Lewis

I'm very often still very much alive for that other being and that other world long after the film is finished.
Daniel Day-Lewis

If people take an interest in you and they think there's half a chance, they might hang on. It's dreadful.
Daniel Day-Lewis

It's a complete illusion, this notion. We create for ourselves this strange delusion that we exchange our lives for someone else's.
Daniel Day-Lewis

Making a film, setting it up and getting it cast and getting it together, is not an easy thing.
Daniel Day-Lewis

Many years ago, I really didn't know where the next work was coming from.
Daniel Day-Lewis

My curiosity sustains me for the period of the shoot.
Daniel Day-Lewis

The last time I was on a small set would've been probably My Left Foot.
Daniel Day-Lewis

The whole thing of weight, I guess it's because there is a wider fascination we all have with weight.
Daniel Day-Lewis

There must've been some part of me that wanted to make my mark. But there was never a defining moment.
Daniel Day-Lewis

There's nothing worse than finding yourself in a situation, a very demanding piece of work, and knowing that you're not a true ally to the person who's in charge of all that.
Daniel Day-Lewis

When I've gone back to work, it's always with that sense of inevitability. That may be a complete delusion, but it's the one that I need to get out of bed and go about my business. That sense that I can't avoid this thing. I better just get on with it.
Daniel Day-Lewis

You can never fully put your finger on the reason why you're suddenly, inexplicably compelled to explore one life as opposed to another.
Daniel Day-Lewis