The Big Picture - The Daniel Day-Lewis Hall of Fame

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

Sean and Amanda are joined by David Sims of the Blank Check podcast to commemorate the incredible career of Daniel Day-Lewis. They begin the show by debating whether or not 2025 has been a good year for movies, and they forecast what the fall slate will look like (2:34). Then, they discuss Day-Lewis’s return to acting with ‘Anemone,’ directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis (14:14). Finally, they work through the entire career and filmography of the legendary actor (20:28) and build his Hall of Fame (39:28). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: David Sims Producer: Jack Sanders and Belle Roman Unlock an extra $250 at linkedin.com/thebigpicture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennacy. And this is the big picture of conversation show about Daniel D. Lewis today on the show. Amanda and I will build a shrine to the man. Many believe to be the finest actor of his generation. Joining us to do so, one of the finest podcasters of his generation. Absolutely not. From Blank Jack, David Sims. Let's go.

And the winner. Yes. The winner of the most. recent draft. That's right. Yeah. Here for your victory lap. We didn't plan this, but we sort of did.

Well, we planned like a week of us all together. Yes. Like we're having, this is my second of four encounters in, at least one of you guys. I did win. I did not think I was not planning to win. But everyone I spoke to afterwards was like, I got to be honest, I voted for David. That's not true. My friends voted for me, but everyone else voted for you.

My own niece and sister, whipped me in the eye and said, I did not vote for you. I voted for David. You went very male. I did. I think inadvertently. And you had like, it was inadvertently. Well, sure.

But you had like maybe not quite enough diversity. That's true. I just got a blinked a couple times and I was like, Ah, Scorsesey. Like I couldn't really, you know, I couldn't think out of it. Yeah. I was talking about it like, it's like, it was an overwhelming, like too many choices. There was a lot of choices.

It was maybe too broad a palette. But you know what? It was a very fun draft. It was a great live show. Thank you to everyone who came. That was amazing. Thank you to everyone helped to put it on. You and Griffin for being part of it.

I should have brought you for having a press. now to be wearing, you know, I was sad I didn't have one in the moment. People kept being like, what did you win? And I'm like, just glory. A 12-block walk to a bar that you did not enter. That's what you run. That was, that's, look, man, that's some father of three business where I just, I just took one look at that bar and I was like, you know what, I enjoyed the walk. I'm getting on the train. Cues right here. This episode is presented by LinkedIn ads. Sometimes marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. Like, if you see a

ad for movie-themed dog sweaters when you don't even have a pet. Reach exactly who you need with LinkedIn ads with a network of 130 million decision makers they can help you target by job title, industry, company size, or even skills. It's one of the reasons LinkedIn ads generates the highest B2B return

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I would be remiss if having you here we didn't talk about something beyond the topic at hand because you're one of the great working film critics. Thanks. That's also not true. Jesus Christ. It is true. Okay. And it's, I've spent an interesting year at the movies.

We haven't really done, we're starting to do Oscar ranking stuff. We're starting to look at how things have been going. But we haven't spent a lot of time saying, like, has this been a good? slate of movies? Are we really excited? 20-25 movies. That's how we learn how to do it.

I don't know if I'm coming in hot, but it's a weird year. I haven't seen everything from this sort of fall. Okay. Right batch. Like, I still haven't seen Hamnet. Okay.

I haven't seen Marty Supreme or whatever. But that just makes you like most other movies that are not coming out. Have you seen most of the fall stuff? Have you seen most of the canned stuff? I've seen all the canned stuff and I've seen... Lucky for you. I mean, most of it at least.

It's a flop fall, right? we can kind of agree. Like, it's sort of like a weird festival year. It feels like a weird year for awardsy movies. But maybe not a bad year for movies. Right. It's just kind of settling in a way that it often won't. Where I keep a running, you know, yearly list starting in January, right?

I just start, I rank my movies. And you keep it public all year. Keep it public. And it's a living document and kind of, you know, I'll settle on something and I'll be like, you know what? That's sticking with me. Let's, let's bump it up. Or I'll see something again.

I'll be like, eh. And often you'll get the kind of Sundancey stuff at the start And you'll watch it kind of get pushed down Hasn't really gotten pushed down Except by like These sort of big movies that resonated with me Like these sinners weapons One Battle

And 28 years later Which I think is sort of the underrated Like those were the ones where it's like I can't stop thinking about those movies Let me look at my list I don't know what do you guys think I mean that's a very similar for me That quartet

There are a couple of movies that I have really liked from the fall festivals that we haven't had time to talk about yet No Other Choice Testament of Anne Lee a couple of things that I know

will be near the top of my list haven't seen Anne Lee loved no other choice but flop fall is interesting I mean you know we went to the festivals

and we wanted to be excited about as much as we could be and we tried and there were some cool things but I came away feeling like most of what was great was it can

and I mean from in that cohort The things I like the most are the sentimental value and the, it was just an act, like, which were both can moves. It's just an accident. Hmm. Yeah. Is there anything else? I mean, the problem is, is like, flop fall leaves out one battle after another.

Right. Which, and the thing about it is that for me, with the exception of sinners, it was a little bit of like a flop spring and flop summer. And I also fair. kept waiting for the we had a lot of anticipation of the fall season because i think everything felt a little flat you had Jurassic World Rebirth you were reborn so angry oh that's right because Alex Ross Perry no he does not influence me no no no please so we that man has no no no I love you Alex hello hello Alex yes he recapped to me the interaction on your physical media We have a little group chat about everyone else's hatred of Jurassic World Rebirth.

And then Alex was like, but I told them that it's everything that's good about going to the movies. Which I don't know if I think that, but it's still really funny that they put a giant dinosaur park in Cable Hill. That's really, here we are in New York City. And I'm just like, that is expensive real estate. And when I saw that, I thought we're in for a great time. And then we didn't get a great time. Scarjo is in Dumbo or whatever. Yeah, like in her car going like, God, there's traffic

because the Brontosaurus died. I got to get to my job as a assassin? Like, whatever my name is a special. Isn't she like 4-10? She's a lioness. And then Jonathan Bailey doing bringing up baby. Like, I'm here for it. That's good.

I'm glad. Oh, that movie stunk. It is the classic. Did you know it was shot on film? Yeah, I guess so. It doesn't prove anything at this point. Right. I mean, I'm always like with that.

I'm like, yeah, dude, what's, I mean, like, you know, what's a bad movie? Tell me a bad movie from the 90s. Sliver? Yeah, that was shot. Well, that's a pretty good. Yeah, it's a great movie. No, sliver is bad. Jade is good. Yeah.

Sliver is bad. I think I'll go there, right? Like, I bought, yes, I bought the vinegar syndrome, sliver. You know, I didn't buy that. Well, my friend Beatrice wrote the essay. Of course, you got to buy Jade. Jade, you know, Freedkin. But I did, I did hit purchase going like, this is a three out of ten movie.

Like, this is not a good movie. It's really bad. I watched it. I watched the first 48 minutes with my dad when I was 12, so not ideal. I bought a leather jacket on the subway this morning for $70. On the subway? Like I bought it on. No, no, no, no, no. Like, I was on the subway train. Sorry, man, I have your jacket. I'm willing to pay you $70.

No, you know, I think 60 with shipping. So there we go. 60 with shipping? Yeah. Are you sure that's real leather? Yeah, it's from eBay, you know? Like, I'm here for the deals. Okay. 2025 movies

It's just like I don't think it's Well, it's interesting Because one battle Is this totemic thing And it is kind of the year of like Hey, studios took chances On slight chances

On slightly more original things And it worked And we celebrate that We mean the good people At Warner Brothers For now Right And so

This is me knocking on Yeah I can't even Let's not Soon we'll just say studio We'll just be like the studio There's just going to be one, right? It's called the free press.

It's trending in that direction right now. But like I don't, I do think there's a lot of sort of noble, interesting efforts like Jay Kelly Smashing Machine, highest to lowest, like movies where I found a lot to like

but I was not like walking out. But it's your favorite movie from those filmmakers, right? Certainly not. Yeah, I agree. I feel very similarly about all three of those I'm like, there's stuff in all three of these movies I dig. Yeah.

It's not their best films. It's also all three of them kind of trying something a little bit different and maybe not totally grasping everything that they went for, but I like them. Also, and this is inside baseball, but all of these movies, so many of these movies, picked the wrong rollout. And it's like that only matters to people like me. But like when Jay Kelly's at Venice, I'm like, no, like Toronto. Like I need to, someone just needs to put me on a chair and the studios come to me and they're like,

no, Bomback film. It's kind of an insider Hollywood thing. It's set in Italy, and I'm like, I don't care that it's set in Italy. No, no, no, Italy will not like that. Guess who's going to like that? George Clooney's in it? Toronto, you're going to Toronto, baby. You know, like, they're all playing games from like five years ago.

They are all like, well, Lady Gaga wrote a boat. I'm like, I don't care that she wrote a boat. I care. Do you want to be... I mean, I do care that she did that, obviously. Let's talk more about that role than you could have. You got to find your audience, like, to hype up, you know, to get your momentum. Do you want to be a czar or do you want to be a backstage advisor?

Right, like a shadowy figure. You want to be paid by the studios to do this, or will you do a pro bono? Do pro bono. Wow. No, I'm joking. They'll just tell you what a movie is about and you'll say, you go here, this is your release date. But don't you know what I mean? I did.

It's like Jay Kelly or even smashing machine, where you're just like, I think if you want to get some momentum, you've got to like, you know, you can't play to a European audience with some of this stuff because they're just not going to be into. I don't know. Like, there's just been a few like that. I liked Testament of Anley allowed, and I'm really happy that Searchlight bought it. I watched more old Italian people walk out of that film, like, angrily than I saw it any other movie. And that's, and that's on the old Italian people, you know, who it's, it's their fault. But it's, you're right, that they're not really matching. Eddington, a movie I liked.

And I know Ari wanted to go to Cannes or whatever, but like, that's not a Cannes movie? No. No. No. Those Frenchies don't want to hear that. No. That would have done great at Venice. Yes, it would have. Anyway, who cares? No one listens to me. And these movies are here, and it doesn't matter.

In the long run, we'll think about them later. But it does just kind of feel like if I'm like a median Oscar voter, all of that stuff's bouncing off me. All these sort of fall festival movies are not really catching. And so it will come down to these bigger movies, which is going to make for like a kind of a different award season, I guess. That's nice. Particularly if Wicked and Avatar. are going in and then all of a sudden

you have a race that's wicked Avatar sinners won battle that's a lot of bigger movies Can I say something really foolish? Just foolish. I should not say this. Slightest concern about Avatar?

Me too. I've been saying we've been keeping it out. Not quality-wise. Yeah, yeah, just in the race. Oh, my words, guys. Just fatigue. I get it. Like the way they re-released

Way of Water. This past weekend. And everyone was like, I don't care about that. I mean, we don't have four hours to go. Right, right. I got to go watch a lyric video. Taylor Swift put a bullet in the head of that strategy as well.

Exactly, right. And then she put a bullet in a couple of hits. But like, like, I'm just detecting like, and look, this happened with way of water a little bit where everyone was like, does anyone even care about avatar? And it's like, you know what? It's Christmas and people want to go see a big movie and they have a good time. Yeah. That will happen again, I assume. Just slightly.

I think it's going to do well at the box office, not as big as way of water. Yeah. I similarly in the awards race, we're just speculating, who the fuck knows? But it's early. It feels like maybe you could have waited two or three more years so that everyone could forget a little bit more and maybe we haven't forgotten enough

how special these movies are. Happy that we have it. Like, I'm not mad that it doesn't know. I'm happy to watch it. What I saw at Cinemakana, I was like, let's go. Light me on fire. I'm into it. You don't care.

No, I don't. I mean, I left before the Disney presentation. And I do, the Chris Ryan, breakout video of I've never seen avatar I don't care why are you spending your life on this like that got traction for a reason you know even among I have seen both films in theaters and I'm like wow a technical marvel but like I don't really care you know I sit down I watch them I say uh-huh Sigurney Weaver got to see you in you know different blue representations sure and then I move on with my life so it just feels like yeah the beautiful whale that's the way it was very beautiful

Was that whale before after the powerful sea creature in the second Black Panther? Or was that an underwater world? What was going on? The Black Panther was 22? Yeah, it was right after, and that was just a world. Aquaman had a powerful sea creature voiced by Julie Andrews. Really? Yeah.

I'm just learning that right now. No one told me. That's a good movie. Have you seen that movie? I've never seen an Aquaman movie. Do you like Patrick Wilson? I do, and I have heard about that. How do you feel about Patrick Wilson being the Ocean Master?

Right. You know, someone has to do it. That's his opinion. And I would put him. Others in the film disagree. I submitted my resume, not selected for the role of Ocean Master, sadly. I stand both of those. Without spoilers, great Patrick Wilson moment this fall festival season.

Absolutely. So I'm not spoiled that for everybody. I'm always happy to see him. I saw him in the trailer of the movie and I was like, don't do that. I agree. Don't do that. Don't do it. It's a great reveal.

Okay. So the reason that we're talking about Daniel Day Lewis today is because he has a new film called anemone, directed by his son, which is a not great movie. It is co-written by Daniel Day Lewis. Has he ever gotten a writing film for? I don't believe so.

It's obviously like a... This is a real family affair. Daniel Day Lewis has done a tremendous amount of press for this movie in support of his son. And so I'm loath to crush this movie. It's not even... Crushable? It's not a successful movie in my opinion. I don't know. What did you guys think?

A thousand percent agree. Yeah. It's pretty. It looks beautiful. It's pretty good looking. I mean, it's like fine. I guess what? Ireland is beautiful. You know? I think it was Northern England. Oh, it was? Yeah. It's not Ireland. Okay. I thought it was Ireland too.

I didn't know. I went into the shot. At some point later on in this podcast, we're going to have like David's I'll try to explain the politics. The Isles Corner. Oh, sure. DDL is perfect for that Giving us heritage as well Exactly, that's what I want to talk about

And his, but yes I had the Aretha Franklin Like beautiful moss, great moss You know, it's just like, you look All these trees look great Yeah, I would argue Another movie this fall Oh yeah, the trees are everywhere

Yeah, and the fucking moss, like enough You know? Well, you haven't seen it yet There's another one too though There's two, the K, no, the JK No, the JK has some, has trees Oh, shit a memorable tree sequence. Oh, sure, yeah, yeah, right.

We're talking around the audience, and that's not very nice. The thing about anemone, a film is very abstract until it isn't. Until they all say what's going on. And I would argue that they should have not told us. And that you could have said this is kind of a sleepy movie that's hard to penetrate, but at least you were making a kind of gesture towards a certain kind of cinema. You could have been like, this is my lynching film.

But then when the movie explains itself, I was like, I don't know that I really think that that was a good choice. I would also argue that it does not explain itself very well. Plot-wise, I think it does. Like, plot-wise, I got the gist and I was really concentrating. And I would say that some of the politics and, like, the, you know, the specifics were not nailed down for me. I got it on a big level. But the fact that they go into the specifics and I'm like, I'm a dumb American, you know, sort of doesn't land it.

That's part of it, but it is also just one of those movies where for 90 minutes of a two-hour movie that should be max, 85 minutes, but whatever. For most of the movie, everyone's just like, yeah, and ever since the thing that happened, I've been living in this fucking cabin, and show me the fucking have. And I'm like, uh-huh, uh-huh. And then finally eventually, she's like, and by the way, just to explain the thing that happened is this thing, let me talk about it for five minutes. And you're like, okay, we're finally saying, you can't just talk around. the thing that everyone knows. Everyone in the movie knows what happened. Right.

And so we're just kind of waiting for everyone to kind of pause and just recap for us eventually. It's not great plotting. It's not. And I think that that's part of why I'm trying to figure out why even this was the thing that pulled Daniel Day Lewis out of eight years of seclusion. It sounds like it was something he and his son like workshopped as like a character or a little story. And it feels like a theater piece.

And it's sort of snowballed. Right. Several monologues in the film Many of them focused on Day Lewis's character One of them focused on poop I thought that's the line It was great

It's amazing It's the most arresting part of the movie It's memorable and it's 20 minutes of him Just like seeing Jimmy And then you're like Okay now we're back in the woods It does go back to the movie Back to the fucking woods with me

Can I swear? Is it okay? Yes you may I always forget Anyhow it had been a long time since Daniel Day Lewis appeared in a movie and part of what he has been confronted by in this press run is why did you retire? What does it mean to retire

from acting? And he is you know, I think, I get the impression he doesn't read a lot of press or consume a lot of content because he's like, God damn, I'm just getting this question every time and I got to figure out an interesting way to answer the question of why am I not acting anymore? He sounds a little contrite and a little

like a bashed in his sort of way of like, yeah, everyone told me not to say anything. And I really was just not working, you know, versus retired. Right. Never say retired, I guess, is the lesson. You can just sort of say, like, I'm taking a break. Yes.

I mean, when he did that, when he stepped away after Phantom Thread, he was 60 years old. Yeah. And obviously, among the most decorated actors of all time. So for him to just say, like, I'm good. It actually is reasonable. I think it's because there is a lot of attendant mythology with Daniel Day Lewis. that it came with more, more baggage. Decisions, like, just not taking on a job for eight years, add to.

So, you know, you get it. Yeah, the baggage increases, you're right. And, I mean, he said, like, it seems very plausible to me that, like, he does phantom thread, for whatever reason, it takes a lot out of him, probably, because it's a demanding, difficult guy that he's playing. And then he's, like, he said, like, I saw the press coming. You know, I saw the Oscar stuff coming, right? And I just hate that.

Yep. And he backed off, like, I feel like he was like, so, you know what? I'm kind of retired, like, before that even starts up. He's like, let the movie stand for itself and I'm going away. And, I mean, his son would have been, what, like 20? Yeah, yeah. And I don't know. I think it's sweet that he made a movie with the son.

I really like that he did that. It's nice. And his son's got... His son's a 30-year-old first-time filmmaker, you know what I mean? You can tell. You can tell. I mean, God, at the press conference. at the New York Film Festival afterwards,

his son said something along the lines of like, well, I've loved Sean Bean since, like, I saw him in Game of Thrones when I was a kid. And Sean Bean, like, put his head in his hands. Sean Bean is like, that was like my third, you know, wave of my career, probably, right? He's thinking, like, I've been fucking acted as the 80s or, you know, like, but, you know, that's the age he is. Okay, let's talk about Daniel Day Lewis.

Daniel Day Lewis. He's 68 years old. He was born in London, England. Well, his father was poet laureate of the United Kingdom. I don't know if you know that. Though he was born in Ireland, Cecil Day Lewis, Cecil or Cecil? I think is how he's addressed. Immediately as a young man went into the theater, studied at the National Youth Theater, the Bristol Old Vic, learned the classical methods of the stage, and then kind of midstream in his late teens began to adopt the method.

Which I actually, I don't know how that happened, because I do not think of that as British. I mean, it's so American. And it's unclear because he historically has been a bit circumspect about discussing not just his process, but specifically working with the method until this year. And now he's been talking about it, which is so interesting. And I think he has been trying to demythologize it in part because of all the baggage that he now carries around because of his career. But he went from, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. He performed on stage routinely from the late 70s through the mid-80s.

until his film career really started to take off. And then he reduced the amount of time he spent on stage. Well, he reduced it completely. Yes. He has not. And then he never, like, tell that story what happened. All we know is that he,

his dad had died and that he like apparently kind of lost it in the middle of being Hamlet during a scene with the ghost and like left the stage and never returned. It has never acted since. Right. And the whole thing with Daniel Day Lewis, as you sort of think, is everyone obsesses over every detail of his career in this way of like,

that he's so unique, right? that it's like, and that's, that could only happen a day that he was so in it as Hamlet that he saw his own father or whatever, you know, and then like, he couldn't do it. I don't know. I think he's talked about it maybe a little bit in terms of just he couldn't, he wasn't, doesn't like the stage aspect as much or I don't know, but like that's the end of it. He's never, ever touched the stage again. So he has been, it's cool, primarily a film actor.

Entirely. It adds to that myth. I don't think he's ever on television. Some four BBC projects. I think he may have done one or two episodic TV spots in the 80s. What's the best show he could join now? Like season 6 of the morning show? I mean, I would like to see him on the pit.

I think that that would be cool because he would bring an intensity that is appropriate. And it would just be like he's just still an ER doctor. Sure, but then think of the lives he's saving. That's so true. Maybe they're all like, he's not that good. He's just an act. All the other pit ER doctors. That's true.

Peacemaker season three. Yeah, exactly. What happens on the peacemaker? They make peace. Sure, but who's, you know. There are heroes confronting fascism and reckoning with its toll. There's superheroes that make peace. I mean, I've only seen some of season one of peacemaker.

I keep meaning to fill that in because I'm told it's very important to understanding Superman or something. There are lots of relevant things to the DC universe. But he's like a knockoff Captain America guy who's shitty, right? Like he's like a sort of patriotic hero guy, John Sina. Oh, okay. Mostly about him, like, I feel like the show, in the movie he was in he was sort of a villain, but in the show he's kind of trying to chart

some kind of path beyond villainy, right? I think season two took a really strong turn into white nationalism. Right. I sort of stopped listening. I think he sucked into a white nationalist universe or something. It's mostly, I'm seeing Twitter memes. I got to catch up.

We should turn this show into a peacemaker show. It's only recap peacemaker. And just like a DCU rumors show. Yeah. Oh, yeah, great. And then my buddy Jim Gum could just come and feel like a single one. He could come in and be like, it's not a Superman movie. Let's tweet live from this show.

I'm glad that we're talking about peacemaker. I've narrow Batman down to 40 guys. And I'll show you the list, but only far away like this. Could D.D.L. have been Batman? Uh, hmm. I say yes. Sure. Oh, yeah.

Well, it is the hamlet of the modern time. No, but like you're... Thank you for saying that out loud. I've said that before. Isn't Joker the Hamlet of the modern time? modern time? Well, in that there's two

Oscar winners who have played the Joker. Yeah, but like dad issues. Yeah. You know, I'm taking on the mantle

but like, and I'm rich, but like I'm really not happy about it. Yeah. And the women around me keep dying. My dad's dead. Yeah.

And like I live in a cave and stuff, you know? Don't you love how Clooney plays it though where it's like, no women know, it's just like, I just don't really want

to marry Elle McPherson. Like that's the extent of his drama in Batman and Robin. Batman. Yeah. could he play Batman? Sure. I wonder, like, I doubt. There was never even the vaguest approach to him,

even in his 90s hot guy era. I don't know, but we will talk about the 90s and what he could have done. The shadow. Like, you know, like not even, forget even like a costumed hero. You get the impression that he's never been intrigued by anything resembling commercial Hollywood. Who's his agent?

Like, how does it work with it? You make it sound like I know the agents of all major stars. Now, tell me now. It does feel like it's sort of a build. Murray, like hotline experience, but it's like instead of like a carrier pigeon, you know, like circles around for a while. It always feels like, right, you get some of the whispers in the wind and it makes its way across the world.

Right. Like, it was right. It was Michael Mann when I interviewed him for Ferrari said like, oh yeah, when I was in London, I got dinner with Dan. And you're like, right, he's around. It's not like he lives. He's a person. The last eight years you were like, he's been in hiding.

And it's like, no, actually, he's just been like wandering around the West Village looking cool as hell, you know? It's true. It's like the West Village girlies and DDL. It's like maybe he's doing Pilates for all I know. I think he might be hot Pilates. But yeah, like, and I think it's like you get dinner with him. And back in the day when he was working more, maybe you would be like, you know, what if there was like a really weird fucking dressmaker?

And he's like, I mean, I don't know how it works. Well, let's talk. Can we talk about the shoes for a second? Sure. Because this is not like the first time he's quote unquote stepped away from acting. Sure. And for a while, for three years there. Post the boxer pre-gangs in New York.

Right. He was like, now I'm going to go be an apprentice. I'm a shoe guy. Have we ever seen the Italian shoes that he made? No. Get on eBay. I mean, but have they been released? Like, do we know what kind of shoemaker?

Do we know the styles? Maybe they're just for him. But, okay, is he wearing them? Maybe the gifts are his family. That would, I would, what I'm saying is, like, I could be a customer. You know, I would be interested. And I don't know enough about the shoes. I look.

You're Googling now? But I mean, I think the whole thing was that he was like, I like a craft. I liked learning at the foot of a genius, like how to do this. Okay. Stephano Beamer. Yeah, yeah. I mean, these look like. I mean, these look like very nice Italian leather shoes.

Sure. You know, like the Italian John Lobb or whatever, I get it. I guess this is not really, he could make a nice loafer for me. What you're describing is the excursions during the long periods of time. of time between acting roles, particularly in the second half of his career. Because in the first half of his career, he's more or less working

every year. He is a staple of, I would say, mostly British cinema from the 80s and early 90s. And then in the 90s, he kind of sort of becomes a movie star. We'll talk through each film and everything, but you know, you can see he's resistant to it, though, too. He's resistant

to it, but he is starting with, I mean, we should go through it to pinpoint exactly, but it's sort of around Mojikans. Yes. It's like, yeah, he's a guy where it's like you put his face on the poster.

You put his name above the title. Yeah. I don't care if it's an art of your movie. Like, that will intrigue people. So we will go through every single movie here in this conversation. So it's not that many. It's not.

And then some of them are weird. And some of them are weird. I have watched every single movie. Same. I have not because I'm going to, I slept through my alarm. I'm sorry. It's totally fine.

Some of them are very negligible. We'll get to those movies. But some of them are like some of the great acting achievements on screen of the last 40 years, legitimately. The whole thing, and we have to talk about, like, well, we'll talk about lots of things. But, you know, when we were thinking,

like, okay, what's a podcast week? I wanted to do a Hall of Fame. We were looking at guys on the release calendar. And girls. Guys and girls. We are. Yeah. And we hit on, oh, no, no, many.

And I was like, oh, let me see, like which I haven't seen. It was like five movies. A bunch. I've seen most of his movies. Well, there aren't. There's not that many. But there are, as you said, some of the great screen performances.

but I wouldn't say that this is a hall of fame of like the greatest complete works of cinema. They're movies that are built around him. Yeah. And at a certain point in his career where it sort of becomes like, well, you've got Daniel Day Lewis. And so with that

the bar has been raised in terms of how much you'll be able to make this movie work even if the movie doesn't come together the way you want it to. He's in several, he's in a few like great, great, great films. But you're right that it's not right. It's often...

Well, okay. More of like a very good or very interesting. I don't know. He's on a lot of movies I love. What do you guys think defines him as an actor? Not as a star, but as an actor. It's just super chill. Yeah, like relax.

Well, we know that he applies the method, right? That he stays in character on set. But you wouldn't know that unless someone told you that, right? But at some point someone did tell us that. And I do think that we watch every performance now knowing that. I can't divorce my. like my understanding of him from... He's been shrouded in that for me

since I was a teenager. Gangston New York would probably be the first movie he was in that I was like, you know, a plugged-in film fan, right? But he doesn't play normal guys. And we're going to talk about it, but like this is a filmography. There's only a couple times he played

kind of like a contemporary guy who lives in a house and goes around being normal. Yeah, right? Yep. That's how we... Just like me, a normal guy who goes around, lives in a house being normal. Yeah.

he tends to do period movies. Yep. He tends to do movies where you can sense a transformation. Even if it's not as extreme, like, even if it's not big makeup or, like, you can just sense that, like, he... Accents. You sense it immersion. Yes. Yeah.

And it's like he and Meryl Streep, I feel like, we're the kings of this when I was a kid of, like, the two actors where you're like, they're always doing something. And with Meryl, it was usually a big accent or something. Or white one or rafting. yeah yeah and with him river was wild it was so wild and with him it would be like oh he's gonna do you know kind of like a quiet drama about like sort of what happened to the young people in the IRA who got out of prison but he also fucking got ripped and is like a champion boxer now you know what I mean like it was like it could never just be this anemone is one of the sleepiest smallest movies he's ever made like and even then it feels he's immersed in it's I mean he probably went off

and lived in the wood has he talked about I don't think he talked about the pro I think he's Maybe trying to avoid getting kind of a mythos. But this seems one of the easier ones of like he had a little house in the woods. Yeah, sounds great. You know? Signed you up. He isolated himself. I saw the, like I understand how he made his food.

You know, they have displayed all of that in the film. So I probably had to think about all that. I don't know. I'm maybe a little warmer towards anemone for that reason. Yeah. And not funny. Not funny. Not funny.

No. There's tried. Efforts toward funny in the filmography that maybe I wasn't familiar with. And he can be in movies that are funny and that kind of play off his seriousness in funny ways. I don't think he's particularly good at comedy. Yes. Yeah. And there is also.

Also true of Merrill, until she kind of unlocked it later in life. For a long time. So, Merrill is a key reference point. There's a quote from Colin Firth who stars in your favorite film, Mamma Mia. I haven't seen it. Worst movie I ever liked. So at the end of Mamma Mia, I'm sorry to spoil this for you, Sean. What are you doing?

You've really not seen mom. I've not seen the film, no. It's pretty easy. And we were not to interrupt you. We were talking about pop music and our kids the other day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And actually the one thing that my daughter does like in pop music is Abba. That is the one.

The best. Okay. At one time my wife was in the car with me, I'm sorry. And then you should. No, no, no. And was like, you know, I don't really know Abba that well. And I was like, yeah, you do. And she was like, no, I don't.

I was like, okay, well, like, Siri play Abba. And we're going to go through every song until we hit one. you don't recognize it. It took like 14 songs. It would have been really fun if your phone just started playing. Obviously, right now. Anyway, no, me out. Again, I'm spoiler.

After the dramatic events of the film have concluded, there is like a credits to act on scene where they are all in like the most bellbottomsy, bellbottom jump suits doing Waterloo. Yeah, the song, no pot can contain. And going for it. And Colin Firth is like, Here's the thing about all actors, like, in our essence, we just want to, like, dress up in, like, very silly clothes and, like, dance around to Waterloo. He was like, this has, and Merrill Streep is in it, too.

So, like, there is something about being a theater kid, actors that it's like, this is really what you want. You want to express yourself. And Daniel Day Lewis does not have that gene. Like, he's not trying to have fun to Abba. At, like, any point, there is nothing silly about it. We're going to talk about the one time we tried it, and it's very tough. work. Yes, it really did not work. He literally does sing and dance in a movie.

He tried. He really gave it. And maybe he did it because he was like, I can do that. I can try this, yeah. I've never done that. All right. So your entry point was Gangs of New York. Do you remember the first time you saw him on screen? Probably age of innocence. Yeah, I was trying to think if I... That's not quite had I

had I seen any of those. I must have been shown in the name of the father. I can't remember when I saw that. I might have seen like the crucible in school. Yeah. Like something like that. Yeah. But I do think Gangs in New York was probably the first time I was properly keyed into him as a movie fan. And then I

went backwards and forwards of him. I would say that the My Left Foot Year is probably right around an early intro to Oscars for me. Because I'm a humble little older than you. Yeah. Yeah. And so I'm like, I can picture my mom sitting on the couch thinking, talking about his performance,

how he did all his stuff, right? That's what, 89? 89, yeah. I was too young. So, okay. Well, he's won three Academy Awards He's been nominated, I believe, for six So he's won for my left foot, there will be blood in Lincoln That makes this a little bit easier as an exercise

When you have three of these I don't know if we've ever talked about anyone Who has three acting awards for this Francis McDormand Catherine Hepburn Catherine Hepburn who I nominated But we missed all the anniversaries And Sean wouldn't make her brownies

And I said I would do her next year though Is she gonna be 100 next year No, there's no round number. We'll just do it. And then is Meryl at three? Merrill has three. Her third was so egregious. Sure, it was.

And Merrill will have a hall of fame when Devil Wars Prada 2 comes out. Oh, that's very exciting. And let me tell you what should have gotten an Oscar is Devil Wars Prada 1. Yes, and not the Ironly. She probably will get one for two. Do you think so? No. Okay.

Well, I should listen. Maybe she's amazing in it. I don't know. She might be, maybe. Yeah, but who else are we missing with three? There's not that many. I mean, I think there's that guy who did it three times early. Is it Brennan, Walter Brennan or whatever?

You know, there's some character actor in the 30s and 40s who picked up three Oscars. But, you know, we don't think about him in the same way. Nicholson? Nicholson has three for Cuckus Nass, turns of Endearment as good as it gets. Ingrid Bergman? Ingrid Bergman has at least two. And then she has murder on the Orienne Express. Yeah, she did win an Oscar.

Yeah. That's a choice they made. Guys, do it. She's all right, Nett. Okay. I mean, she's okay, but, you know. She's fine, and who's that? Ingrid Bergman, heard her?

And murder on the Orient Express. Oh, that's a phony win, but she's a genius. She's the legend. I mean, obviously she would have, it's not that she has a deserve hack. No, no, no, no. But that's a, that's a silly Oscar win. It was a bit of a sort of like, oh my God, you're still here, win. I mean, I like that movie okay.

She should have won for what's the Rossellini journey to Italy. That's an incredible performance. That is one of my favorite movies. That's such a great movie. And that's when she was, she was tart and feathered because she was. It's cheating on her husband. Cheating on you. Okay.

The big tuna. That's what I call Rossellini. The big tuna? Well, he was a big guy and he made this movie Stromboli, which is all about tuna hunter. That's true. I call him the big tuna hunter. Okay. The big tuna.

I was talking to me about Stromboli just the other night. Oh, my sister-in-law, Ruthie. Yes. Because she was in Sicily. And then she's like, and then I watched Stromboli. Stromboli rocks. She did. Yeah.

That movie rocks. Shout out Ruthie. Ruthie, a woman of taste. Yeah. I didn't get to shout her out during the live podcast, but I shouted out her parents. So, hi, Ruthie. I said hi to her backstage. DDL also nominated for in the name of the father gangs of New York

and Phantom Thread. And that's it, though, it's six. Six. That's interesting. I probably, so I'm like, I'm wondering. I'm not quite, because I do see him in this tradition of great English actors, Lawrence Olivier, you know, the kind of Richard Harris, Richard Burton, Robert Shaw, Oliver Reed, that whole, you know, wing of guys.

And then, you know, John Gilgood, you know, this whole historical run of folks. Peter O'Toole, I think, is a good... Almost everyone you're naming is the other kind of actor where they're like, I get shit-faced until they call action. Yeah. Yes. Where DvL is like, I learn how to make houses out of trees and live in the woods for a year. Peter O'Toole is like, I go to the bar. Right.

And I load up. Like, and then I'm ready to be fucking, you know... That's how I podcast. You know, there's nothing wrong with that method. That's my method. And like, it's just so interesting, like, to think about those guys, because you think about Olivier, you know, the famous thing with Marathon Man where he, to Dustin Hoffman, he's like, why don't you just try acting? You know, like, right, Justin Hoffman's, you know, deep in the method. And Olivia's like, what is this?

And, like, that's why Daniel DeLewis sticks out to me as a Brit, because I feel like Brits usually don't tolerate that kind of tomfoolery. So there's one, I think there is one comp. And it's an unusual one because this is a. an actor who is known for franchise work and comedy. But I think Alec Guinness is actually an interesting match for him because Alec Guinness was a transformer. He was a person who turned into characters and disappeared and used prosthetics and changed his facial hair.

And he fought the Decepticons. And he certainly did. He built that bridge. I said this on a blank check recently. I think he is one of the, you can easily make a case, greatest screen actor, whoever lived. Yeah, with the most varied filmography. and achievements in every decade.

But he couldn't beat Darth Vader. He couldn't. But his spirit did. Okay. D.D.L. Let's talk about the films. So we're going to go through every movie. I want to say, is it roughly 20 films?

I think it's 21 films. The first two are very easy to discount. Yeah. We can be a little... The thing is, is like, when you've got like seven bang-on classics... Yeah, it's like 22. Yeah, yeah. There is some TV stuff.

I actually did go back and watch a couple of the TV films. that he made, which are... You can see what his screen persona. And my brother Jonathan is one of the first... It's like a mini-series that he made for the BBC. I was like, you don't have a brother named. You got a lot of my brother, Jonathan. Hi, Kyle.

And all of that stuff is interesting. Prior to all of that work, he has a, like, a walk-on part in John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday. Right. Which is fascinating because I guess Peter Finch is maybe another guy that he has some things in common with. I bet you Peter Finch was something of a, you know, idol or not like a model, yeah, right, another like mega intense young British actor who like sort of was like startlingly emotional on screen. And he's in, yeah, yeah, that's an interesting comp.

Then in 1982, 11 years later, after he has been studying and working on stage, he gets a small one-scene part in Gandhi. Right. or he plays a man named Colin, a racist thug on the streets who insults Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi. Yeah.

And I tell you what, he sticks out on the movie. It's a very memorable two minutes in this film. It's actually really, yeah, it's an affecting scene. Do you like Gandhi? I don't. Gandhi's a movie that, like, I grew up in England. You're shown that film in school because it's like this very kind of straightforward,

kind of like, here's this guy's life you need to know about it movie. And I have a bit of a soft spot for it because I love those like just everything is on screen. You know, it's so many people like the, but it's a pretty

yeah, it's a straightforward movie. It's not the most. It is one of the early examples I could think of a movie that starts at the end. Yeah. And then it goes because it starts with Gandhi's funeral.

And then it's like, how do we get here? Let's go back to the very first day of this guy's life. Yeah, basically. And then it walks for things. three hours during his life is remarkable. There's no doubt, and it is worthy of a movie. And Kingsley's kind of is amazing.

He's great. He's phenomenal, you know, a very famous Oscar win for him there. A somewhat controversial one. Okay, so Gandhi obviously not going in either because of the size of that part. 1984 is The Bounty. I just watched this for the first time. So this is the third Hollywood remake of Mutiny on the Bounty. And I would say a fairly successful movie.

It's a pretty, is it Donaldson? It's Roger Donaldson? I watched it a few years ago. I did a podcast where we were drafting. They were ripping you guys off. 80s, God bless, and they're nice boys. 80s can blockbusters. And that counted.

It was basically like big bunch of movies that were a can't, right? 80s can blockbusters. That's really specific. It was a fun. It was fun. And I had to watch a bunch of movies like that that were sort of a little lost to memory. Like, it's a total, it's what, so it's Anthony Hopkins. Yeah, Anthony Hopkins and Mill Gibson.

And Mill Gibson. two tremendously intense performances from Hopkins and Gibson. The whole thing with Mutiny on the Bounty is just it's a great opportunity for like a little bit of an older guy, a little bit of a young buck, big actors.

And it's a big stack of ham. Exactly. You just bite right into it. You put them in their Navy whites and their hats and you have them in on, you know, in the courtroom going like, well, I never did a mutiny on the bounty.

And then you cut to the bounty. It's like, I'm going to do a mutiny on the bounty. You know, and it's fun. It always works. They could do it again. Who's that now? I mean, it's still Anthony Hopkins.

He's just like a sleep in a chair. They're like, we got to kick this guy off. The young guys, the Harris Dickensons and the Palm Meskills, they don't want to yell back at their elders. That's not the acting style. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, they're getting stoned in being the Beatles. That's right.

There's a little to be in the Criterion Clause. Right. Daniel Day Lewis in The Bounty plays a man named John Fryer. He's essentially one of the first mates, the sort of like lieutenant to Captain Bloss. Right. No, but he's not a bad guy. He's like, he supports Hopkins' character. And it's just kind of like, um, he's like the bebop and rock steady to shredder. You know, like, um, and it's a, he's fine. I thought this was a pretty good Mel Gibson performance. Yeah. Well, those 80s. You know what? You have been saying, like, we forget. We forget. We forget. And listen, it's not an endorsement of anything that comes out. No. He seems like a horrible person. But every single time, we're just like, what? This was pretty charming.

When you see 80s Gibson, right, it's the mix of, like, man, the guy looks great. He's super charming, but also just raw nerve stuff. Pops off the screen. You can understand why everyone was like, let me get me that guy. Okay, 1984's the bounty red. Yeah. Okay, so we got three straight reds. 1985, my beautiful laundrette.

So this is the breakthrough, right? This is the who's that? Yeah. Stephen Frears' drama that I think is now probably best known as a Daniel Day Lewis movie to most people

even though he's like maybe the third lead in the film? He's almost supporting I mean he's I would call him Lully but yeah because

Roshan Seth the guy who plays the dad is is yeah also has a big part right yeah yeah yeah but he

I mean that movie rocks that movie's pretty canonical in Britain I don't know I guess it's not not as much year like that's like

a pretty classic like sort of breakthrough indie sort of dromedy whatever like obviously it's an early story like gay story and British cinema like you know earlyish um but and it's yeah I guess it's mostly famous because he's just so good looking like he's just so charming and handsome in it and like again like raw nerve kind of stuff right like I don't know and he's a challenge to the protagonist kind of throughout the movie and like activates the movie halfway through I

You didn't like No I did I'd seen it before I'd seen it some years ago I don't know I think it has to be yellow Yeah And it for various reasons

I think it will be green I think it will be Well we're dealing with this thing It's top heavy with him though Sorry No no no it's just You know you do like to honor the breakthrough I do

So this is the breakthrough We can yellow it There's another 1989 movie that we should That I would like to talk about that. We should talk about that, but just last laundry, it's like, he's got the punky thing in it, right? And I feel

like that's something he never lets go, that even when he's mostly doing period pieces and stuff, like he always has that kind of like weird out, sidery, yes, yeah. And, you know, when you're considering the arc of Daniel. And to your point earlier, like

one of the few contemporarily set movies that he made. Yeah. Okay. Yellow for my beautiful laundret. We will come back. to that. 1985, a room with a view. Yeah, which you just saw for the first time. You never seen it.

No. And he was like, it's fine. I thought it was solid. I think you so much. Thank you. It's so beautiful. It's one of my favorite movies. During the pandemic, you had a bunch of filmmakers on to recommend, like, one

criterion type thing. And who was it? Who was like a room with a view? That's where it's at. I can't recall. But you're right that someone did recommend it. And someone was like, that is what, like, swooning sex appeal is all about. But...

Might have been Barry Jenkins? It is not located in the day-to-day character. Which is interesting to twin it with Laundrette where he's so sexy and this he is like the most dickless fuck. This is like the priggish uptight, you know. Which is like another vein that he can, he kind of skirts back and forth with throughout the career. I mean, it's like, it's not his movie. But he is so good in it. He's great in it.

But yes, he's sort of a antagonist or problem character. I don't know how to describe him exactly. And that just sucks that you don't like it. I didn't say I don't like it. Where are you on Merchant Ivory generally? Fine. And by no means an expert. I was going to see all the 70s films.

Like should we meet in a year and just have done them all? Yes. I've seen most of the, I've seen all of the 90s prestige. Sure. Right. You've seen the big boys like your powers end. For years on the show, this was a big open spot for me that I had never filled. And I think it's just one of those things where there's a weight of expectations, right?

when someone like Amanda is, like, this is one of the best films of that decade, one of the best films in this style. Not like a huge Emforster fan. So, like, that's, you know, not really, like, my favorite style of storytelling. Sure. I thought it was good. He doesn't really relate to, like, young women trying to break out of the strictures. No, he thinks they should stay in their place.

Just keep them right there. In the hole until they get married and put them in a brand new kitchen. Right. And they can't leave that one either. They're only in floors that are clean. every morning. It's just a, I mean, it's a weird thing for him, though,

because it is. He doesn't come in until 45 minutes in. He's playing off of the Julian, the allure of the Julian San's character, which is just the late great Julian Zans. Which is interesting because, right, Julian Sand is playing a role that Daniel Day Lewis can play.

Absolutely. He probably was aspiring to do more of. But he's the buttoned up. Yeah, he's the classes. But this is also period piece, like very, you know, mannered, which is something that he gravitates towards. So it's like, it's

not DDL's movie, but it is like a DDL-esque movie. Well, 100%. He fits perfectly in the movie. He does. But he's usually playing the Sands character. He will play the Sands character in a couple of examples. CDL is he is default, a reedy guy with kind of this

like thin English faith. He's so English. And then you see him like resisting that, being like, no, no, I'm, I am Irish. my dad, you know, like my heritage, which is understandable. But then you'll see him, like, change his body and try to, like, but you put him in a little Edwardian suit or whatever. He looks the part.

He does, he does. Yeah. So what do we do with this? You can yellow it. I think it should be yellow just because, right, as good as it is in it. It's one of the best movies he's ever been in canonically. I would say maybe, yes. Just out of respect, you can yell it.

Okay, we will yellow and return to it so much. I love it too. It might be my favorite. I don't know, merchant. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's got the more kind of early merchant every where it's just a little more romantic. I have the 90s ones where it's like all about like one tremor of emotion every two hours.

You know, like what you admire. That's seen in the lake when they're all stripping down and chasing each other. I was like, you don't usually see this. No, that's what rocks about it. But I haven't seen like the Bostonians, the wild party. Like I haven't seen any of those movies. I mean, I need a reason to see some of them, yeah. 1886 this is a very

I think this is a hard film to find It was a hard film to find on physical media It's called Nanu It's a French romantic drama Sort of sort of dramaity Yeah And again Daniel D. Lewis plays a very strange part

Where he plays the boyfriend Who is I guess being cuckled it Sure And was going to be cuckled it And the film is sort of about this This challenging decision for the female lead. Imogen Stubbs.

Image in Stubbs. Who was kind of like, you know, she's like a big British theater actor. She was kind of like a medium deal. You know what I mean? Like she's in the 12th night. Trevor Nunn movie.

She's in sense and sensibility, you know, but she was never quite on the level of like an Emma Thompson or whatever the big crossover Brits were. Right. A rare example of a film written and directed by a woman in 1980s,

England. That did not happen. You're not happy about that. Why were she not on those linoleum floors? what I said when this film was announced in 1986. Connie Templeman, the only movie I think she ever made, right? It's ultimately, it's a French film.

It's not, there is English language in it, but it feels French and its pacing and its style. And it has been kind of disappeared from the Daniel DeLewis history, even though it comes in the aftermath of two big British classics, and it's not going in. It's going to be a red.

He's fine. It's not, it's barely apart. It relates to, yeah, a movie we're going to discuss soon. So you hate women and friends people. I don't hate anyone. Has he been in,

how many other movies has he been in directed by a woman? Is that the only one? Well, his wife directed by the only one. His wife did direct him. That's right. I think that's the only other one. I think that's it.

Yep. 1988, it's the unbearable lightness of being. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I'd never seen this movie.

I probably haven't seen it in 20 years. I had watched, and I remember this very clearly, about 45 minutes of it in a Virgin Megastore once where it was just playing on a TV and it had boobs. Okay. I was probably about 14 or 15 years old.

And it was also a movie. They were playing this movie on TV in public? There's a Virgin Megastores movie that are really intense. Absolutely. But in the UK. But the Virgin Megastores were so cavernous and you would just sort of find yourself in the art house. And there would just be, you know, stuff playing on the, you know.

Yeah. And I remember watching it for a while. But not really knowing what was going on. Sweet Jesus. Well, the whole thing with this movie is it's about the gals. It's about Julie Pinoche and Lena Olin. And this is like his first big lead in a way. Yes, it's legitimately.

And he's totally fine in it. But he feels like a little like anonymous. Well, so I haven't read this novel. This novel is a Newland-Cundera novel that is hugely celebrated. And the way it was described in what I was reading about it last night is that it is simultaneously this kind of sweeping romantic drama set during a time of great historical change, a very common setting

for a big story that's during the Prague Spring and the kind of retrenchment of communist power inside of Czechoslovakia and also a film about educated people being kind of like

stripped of their livelihood during a time of revolution but that the novel itself is kind of almost like self-aware of its own tropes and there's a kind of knowingness and the writing that makes it a standard bearer

of postmodern fiction as well as historical fiction and that the movie is just an adaptation of historical fiction, right? It's just a romantic drama. It sheds a lot of the literary year right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I did read this novel, like, freshman or sophomore year of college, which, like, time-wise, you know, in my journey.

Exactly, and it was, like, handed to me as someone who was, like, exploring the metatextual aspects of literature, but also, you know, was in 101. So, and then I think I did see the movie then as well. Yeah. And this was the one that I was going to rewatch this morning and didn't get to. But yes, it is, the movie is sort of like the English patient. It's just the plot, not any of the structure.

Right. And the linguistic and the literary aspects of the movie. And Philip Kaufman. It's his fallout to write stuff, right? It's like, he makes right stuff. And he's like, okay, baby. I get to do my check sex movie. Well, it's a weird thing in Kaufman's career because, you know, in the 70s...

It's fired off Josie Wales. And he bounces around in terms of the kinds of movies that he makes. Where he makes Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake, which is fabulous. Amazing movie. Great Minnesota, Northfield Raid. Awesome movie. He makes The Wanderers, a movie about, like, gangs, like leather, like leather boys. Not cruising leather boys, but leather boys.

and he seems to have this interest in a lot of different kinds of stories you know, Writers of the Lost Ark famously contributed, didn't contribute and then after this movie he makes a bunch of movies like this movie. What does he make? He makes Henry and June. Oh yeah, right. He goes

Euro. He makes quills. Yeah. He makes rising sun. Well, that one's... But like again, these are all like erotic Yeah, yeah, yeah. Foreign Horror dramas. Yes. Hemingway and Gellhorn. Oh, sure, yeah.

That's Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman. And this movie kind of just like resets the course for him. And I don't know if that's the stuff he could make because of the Unbearable Lightness of Being or whatever. This was a very celebrated movie in its time. Yeah. We've got Oscar nominations. Yes. It was a thing.

I feel like it launched both Lena Olin and Julia Pinoche's like sort of pseudo Hollywood people. Absolutely. Like they were kind of like half in Europe, half in Hollywood people. They're the things. He's a hot doctor who fucks. I think he's good in this. I don't think he's really ever done this except for maybe one other movie where he is just

like the heartthrob. He is just like bagging women and like with a look. You know, the film opens with him saying, you know, take off your clothes to a nurse in a hospital whilst there is a surgery happening in the room next door and he's a doctor, yeah. But right, it's about a guy who's kind of like,

I'm just here to fuck. And like, as, you know, the weighty events mount, he's eventually confronts. Like maybe I'm not just here to fuck. Right. But all of his other characters, he is, it's the anomaly because the rest of the time it's like, he's like, I would like to fuck, but I have like other things going on. You know, and it's sort of you are, you're like pulling me away from. Right.

He's rarely sex forward. Yeah. And like even Phantom Thread is about the way in which, like, I think is it like about Daniel Day Lewis and his appeal to women characters and the, you know, it's like, it's complicated. He's not... But he's withholding his essence in that movie And in this movie he's like, let me get my essence on you. Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm saying. That's, which is he's withholding in everything.

That is like part of his thing. Yes. And I wonder if he may be very purposefully was like no more Lotharios after this. He may have found it whatever like a little uninteresting or I did that already, I guess. But I do, it's a pretty good move. I agree. That's his style. IRL, you know?

No. Yeah. So that's the other thing, right? Like, I don't... He dated Isabella Johnny for years. Yeah. And then he. that relationship fell apart

and he met Rebecca Miller I think when he was doing the crucible right like he meets her through Arthur Miller yeah Arthur Miller was like hey meet my daughter I get right like that's I believe that's what I'm like that's all I know of his love like since then he's just been married to Rebecca Miller and like so

yeah him and Isabella Johnny that doesn't sound like a chill those are two very intense cool serious actors like what did they like do the crossword together like it's hard to imagine you'd be surprised Yeah, I guess so. I guess so.

Amanda does the crossword, you know? She's an intense type. She's just a ball lightning. Yeah, I do spelling bee, but... Spelling me, great. I think the unbearable-litis of being will go in, but I... I think we should yellow it just because we're just feeling this out. Have you ever gotten this far without a green?

I just feel like we're anticipating all of the juggernautty things. Yeah. But there aren't that many movies, I guess. Newman, maybe. We did go a few. We went like a lot, there was like 10 to 12. And you were itchy because you kept being like, no, no, no, no, no. But we need to have the first one in.

What was the first one? Hustler? I can't remember what the first one was. Because you were like Paris Blues, Paris Blues. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Definitely not the silver chalice. That didn't go in.

No. Yeah. Okay, 1988 8 stars in bars. Now I had not seen this before. This was the one I was pumped for. I hadn't heard of this movie, but I had read the book. What? Yes.

I read this book because my mom liked William Boyd. Who wrote lots of like this kind of. stuff. One of Julia Lennon's favorite authors. Kind of light comedy stuff, like antic, you know, usually about like being a sort

of transatlantic person, which is what he was. Okay. You know, London, New Yorkie kind of guy. And I just would, you know, I read this book when I was a teenager. And it's like a farcey kind of book

about, oh, British guy ends up in the South and he's an art dealer, but in the South, you know, they all just like, you know, make barbecue or what are you? Like, it's not an evolved. look at the American South. I don't really remember it.

And then I learned that, yeah, they had made a movie of it with Daniel Day Lewis. And this movie kicks off. Did you watch this movie? I did watch this movie. On the plane to New York. Sure. Did you watch this movie? I mean, that's fine. It's not good. It's bad. It's quite awful. It was directed by, what's his name? Pat O'Connor.

Who's like a guy who made a lot of like okay movies. Like I should look, I should just triple check like his resume. I mean, the January Man, Zelda. Circle of Friends. Circle for Inventing the Abbots? He went through the whole 90s making those kinds of movies. Don't say it like that. We're going to the map for Circle of Friends. We're going to the mat for Inventing the Abyss.

Inventing the Abyss is a cool one. Live Tyler, Joaquin Phoenix was powerful stuff. They were hot. They were hot. But it's like one of the, you know, he would make kind of like, you know, mid-budgety kind of drama, right, stuff with young stars. But I want to read the cast because it's crazy. Did you have this experience when just the credits were rolling?

I only knew because I looked before. Beforehand. Daniel Day Lewis, Harry Dean Stanton, Maury Chacon, Joan Cusack, Keith David, Spalding Gray, Glenn Headley, Lori Metcalf, Deidre O'Connell, Will Patton, Martha Plimpton. You know, like, I was just like, how bad, Stephen Wright's in it? You know, like, this will be fun, right? Like, look at all these heavy hitters. It sucks. It's really not good. And it is in part because it is meant to be a fish out of water comedy. And Daniel Day Lewis isn't very funny. He's just not very funny. It's the one thing I watched where I was like, he's like, he's, really bad in this. He's mismatched or whatever.

He doesn't have a handle on what he's supposed to be doing. Every scene is just him going, oh, yes, well, I suppose so. Well, like, someone is like, hey, I ain't partner, how you do it? He's like, oh, oh, dear, oh, dear. It's just that over and over and over again. Yeah, I hope you bring back more

of your DDL impressions throughout the rest of this episode. Obviously, he had played sort of stiff upper lip British guys before, mostly room with the view. Yeah, not modern guys, though. Right. This is a contemporary movie as well. It is. But I know.

I mean, like the movie itself is kind of so half-ass that you're like, maybe there wasn't anything for him to grab onto, but he's bad in it. It's so fascinating, though.

It's been buried. Like that he, first of all, it's never discussed. Yes. No one ever talks about it. I don't think it was, I don't even know

if this movie is a release on VHS. Like, I couldn't find it anywhere. I watched it on Plex. And it is, it is, well done. I rented it from iTunes

so you can still do that. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's sandwich between the unbearable lightness of being and my left foot. Which is just the craziness of how

life in Hollywood and filmmaking and acting careers go. Right, because you imagine his agent, whoever this imagining person was, being like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're the star of this movie. It's a fun comedy. It's got, you know, actors in it. It's based on a book that I think probably sold well.

Of course you do that movie. He's like, what if I pretend to be paralyzed? Like, can only move a foot. And the guy's like, as kind of risk. Is anyone going to want to see that? Yeah. It's like that was the right move for him.

And the funny thing about it is that my left foot is much funnier than stars and bars. Yeah, you're right. And is not. It has like earthy humor. You're right. And it has a reputation as a very serious biopic about a disabled man and his struggle. Right. That's the framework of the movie.

But it's kind of an Irish comedy. Yeah. And it's a slice of life movie. Yes. Yeah, and it's kind of uplifting, and you can kind of hear the Irish singing on the soundtrack, and it's an interesting thing because, as I said, I was seven years old, probably eight years old during this Academy Awards, and an introduction to the idea of the Transformer, you know,

the person who becomes someone else. You can't believe what this guy did, because he was beating, I feel, like, some pretty big performances at the Oscars. I can look at it up. Look at what it was in 1990. Like, when you look at, I just feel like it's a couple times I have watched some movie, loved a performance, and been like, how on earth did this? this guy lose, and you're like, ah, but everyone was freaking out about Daniel Day Lewis.

Right. Well, Tom Cruise, born on the 4th of July. That's the one where you're like, he should have an Oscar for. And it was kind of, that was the moment. Very similar kind of performance. Yeah. A transformation. Yes. And that's the big one, yes.

It's him. Brana, we didn't mention Kenneth Brana as a kind of antecedent to DDL, but they're correlated in some way. And that's Brana's breakout year with Henry V. Yeah. And Morgan Freeman for Driving Miss Daisy. Robin Williams for Dead Poets Society. Which is Williams having his like, I'm. stepping into drama and it's working thing.

I mean, we, yeah, that's, yeah, that's an interesting counter to, but yeah, like, it was just what you're saying. Everyone was like, you, but I don't understand how he did this. So my left foot is. It's the first Miramax triumph. Yes, it is. It's the original Harvey Weinstein Oscar triumph. That's right.

Taking a tiny Euro movie and God, you know, whatever, it's, I like the movie, but like crammy it down people's throat. Right. On the back of a strong lead performance that you can really sell against. and so you have to see this because of this incredible transformation. An actor who's a little bit of a name. It's not like he was a total. Right, right.

First time he works with Jim Sheridan, the great Irish filmmaker. And I like this movie. I don't love it. It's not like a personal favorite of mine. It's very impressive what he has done in terms of just transforming his body and the things he learned to do with his feet. And he has said that the reason that he wanted to do this was the challenge of it. I'm sure he connected to the story and it was a meaningful one to him.

but that the idea of, you know, making your foot your only workable, a penitage, you know, exactly to communicate, to make art to write. It's an impressive performance, but it has also become like shorthand for the DDL thing. You know, it's like, oh, right, okay, so now you are completely becoming someone else, like, with great, like, physical challenges. And it's, it is showy, you know? It is, hey, look over here, we're acting. 100%.

Whereas everyone else in the movie is not. Right. Render Fricker won an Oscar. Like, you know, everyone else feels like these nice lived-in British, Irish performers. You know, like, Fiona Shaw is really good. That's ungenerous in the sense of what I think is really impressive about the Daniel Day Lewis performance, it, like, is because it is so physical and, like, showy, he does make it look natural. You know, like, he is, he's acting, but there is.

a naturalistic quality to, like, his presence that makes it also, you know, this could be really insulting in almost like anybody else's hands or body. Yeah, gone wrong, it would be terrible. Totally. So you got to hand it to him, but it's like it, the performance announces itself. You got a footage to him. That's right. Sorry.

That's insensitive to Christy Brown. I'm really sorry. My left foot is going in the Daniel Day Lois Hall of Fame automatically. Even though it is not a film, I've seen it like once. And I think it's, like, quite good. I like Jim Sheridan, and I think that's such an interesting run of films. I agree. That's kind of starting here.

And it's also very interesting how it ends. Like, in America's kind of the last movie of consequence he made. I mean, the brother's remake is okay. But, like, he went on from, like, making these, like, incredibly soulful, clearly personal movies to being like, I don't know. Hollywood jobs to do it. 50 cent needs an eight miles. Let me add him. You know, like, it just became kind of like a journeyman.

Mortgages cost money, you know. Absolutely. And I don't, you know, it's fine. But, like, this is not the Jim Sheridan movie I really love. Me neither. We all get to that. Yeah. Here we are back right where we were one year ago.

1990 Ever Smile, New Jersey, a movie that no one has ever heard of. I do not know what you're talking about, to be honest. And I was thinking about the Wikipedia page. I'm sorry. Here's the first sentence. The first two clauses. Fergus O'Connell, an itinerant Irish-American dentist from New Jersey, offers his services free of charge to the isolated rural population of Patagonia in Argentina.

The film is written and directed by Carlos Soren in our Argentinian filmmaker. Sure. This is also very clearly a personal work for him. I have no idea how this even hit Daniel DeLewis' desk. Well, good point. But do you think this was a pre-My-Left foot situation? Probably. Because you think about my left foot is the beginning of like, Okay, from now on, if he's making a movie, you're getting quite a package.

You're getting a transformation from him. It's going to be kind of a story. Right? Like, we're no longer doing a Stars and Bars. Hey, and look, maybe for Stars and Bars, he spent six months, you know, selling art at Sotheby's. I don't know, like, what his prep was for that movie. But it does feel like my left foot on is like that the method mystique begins with him. Go ahead.

Nevertheless, Fergus decides to continue with his work on the prevention of youth decay and dental health education. I watched this movie. Which is important. You know what? We know how I feel about dentists, but they prevent disease. And that is, yeah. Best dentist movie.

Is it the Alan Rudolph film The Secret Lives of Dentists? Catch Me If You Can. He's a, the Amy Adams' dad is a dentist. Martin Sheen? I'm not sure if that's a... He's a lawyer. Martin Sheen's a lawyer. So is someone a dentist?

Probably. There's a hygienist. Maybe. There's dentistry in Catch Me If You Can. Is a serious man the best dentist one? The boy's teeth. Catch me if you can. What about the Steve Martin comedy Novakane?

Yeah. Yeah, that's funny. There were a couple. That movie's not very good. No. No, not really, no. It's been a great dentist movie. Has there ever been a movie about a dentist who's a hero, much like this film?

You know what I mean? Like, usually if you're a dentist in a movie, you're playing like kind of a twerk. It's a really good question. Yeah. Like, it's kind of like, ah, you know, go to your job being a dent, fiddling around with teeth all day, a little weird. It's a respectable upper middle class station in society. But it's kind of like a thing

It's like, ah, you got a boring job A little shop of horror is another iconic dentist movie. That's probably the best dentist movie, right? Is it safe? Is that dentistry? You know? One could argue it's torture.

When you Google Catch Me if you can, Dennis, it's very confusing results. So it's like a lot of people like... I just want to tell you guys, I watched Ever Smile in New Jersey. Okay, no, it's really bad. I did think he was kind of charming in it. Uh-huh.

And... Is it like a parody of this kind of movie? That's an employee. You have to be charming as a... Dennis, because you've got to get people. Well, he's trying to convince children to brush their teeth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's, you're making this movie sound.

It's a very odd film. He's in, like, the wilds of Pataconia with, like, tooth brushes. There's, he's an, it's in civilized society. He's in classrooms. It's not, like, in the jungle. It's about just, I'm imagining him in the jungle, just arriving at settlements, being like, like, I bring oral B. There's an important note to this movie.

Well, there is a thing in the plot summary that's about how, for a while, like capitalism takes over his work and he's like I don't know whether I'm compromised by Oral B or whatever It doesn't say oral B But whatever big big toothpaste Yeah yeah yeah yeah Miramax also produced this movie Oh interesting

And so I wonder if there was a little bit of one in one here Like hey my friend Sheridan's movie if Yeah someone I know Some sort of package has got this dentist project Ever Smile New Jersey will not be going to be Okay And then here we go with Right now it's like

An insane collection of films over a 10-year period. He wins an Oscar for my left foot and then, you know, it takes off. Three years go by, though. Three years go by before the next movie. It takes a while to become what is Hawkeye? Is that his name in Lascahameauhicans? And also listen. Lastin Mohicans, 1992.

To David's point, there's just like a lot of people in Lasth, Mohicans, you know, and a lot of horses and other stuff. So it takes a while to have real people and things. in your movie. Is this his peak hotness? Yeah. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is peak, like, marquee idol for him. A status he avoids. I will find you. Yes. Listen. It's great job. Yeah. So it's a really fascinating pivot moment

in Michael Mann's career as well because he's, you know, he's made thief and Manhunter and then he goes off and makes Miami Vice. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's on Miami Vice for a stretch of time. He hasn't made a movie in six years between Man Hunter and this movie

because he's been working in TV. And it's intensity plus intensity. Like man plus GBL. Yes. Very, the masculine force is coming together. But also a very firm rejection of a certain kind of like contemporary crime movie that he or crime TV show

that he is getting known for. And for Daniel Day Lewis, it's an American movie and he's playing an American character set in a Native American world. Right. And so it's a huge, it's a major transition away from

the fusty buttoned up guy or you know the irish artist like it's a it's a big change but it's the kind of american he likes playing which is an american for more than a hundred years ago who has something of an accent like it's something of a voice that he can do right like he's not going to just play you know joe joe coffey he could try well even there that's going to have to put on a some yeah some english heritage we're getting there we're going to do politics corner shortly Would that be a good film? No. Young David,

The Life and Times of Young David? There's moments you could dramatize, I guess. You could give it your best shot. Last of the Mohicans is also a proving ground for Daniel Day Lewis as action star. Because that's the other thing is that this is an action movie in so many ways. And he's so incredible. He's just running. When he saves Madeline Stowe, you know, at the, like in that final battle.

And it's just absolutely, he's laying in the punches. he's, you know, and you like see the choreography, but also he, again, he has learned and lived the choreography enough that it is credible. Yeah. Again, right. With my left foot, the transformation is so obvious. And so with this, obviously, he looks great and he's got the hair and he's got the body and stuff.

But like, is where you start hearing about like, oh, no, no, no. He, like, made camp in upstate New Indiana, Rondex. And he learned to build fires and carve wood. And, like, you start to hear this sort of mythic stuff about it. Right. My favorite story from this movie, we did this, we did Michael Mann on Blank Check years ago, is that Michael Mann was also insane. And there's a moment where, like, shooting through the night for some, you know, big battle sequence or whatever.

And then Michael Mann starts yelling like, turn that light off. What's that light? Like, who turned on a light? Like, and they're like, the sun is rising. Like, Michael, the day is beginning. Like, we cannot control the sun itself. That's incredible. Yeah, it's the best.

This has never been a big Michael Man. movie for me. Oh, sure. Like, in my Michael Man rankings, this is not in the top five. I think it's very good. Top five, but it's a pretty great

rewatchable rip-snorting adventure. When we did top five Michael Manns on Big Picture, I gave away my fifth spot to Chris. To pick it? Yeah.

Because I was like, and we put in last month weekends. So I think I just, I felt that I needed to speak for Chris Ryan. It's very good. I'm not criticizing it.

It's just not specifically what I can. connect with the most about man's films, which is, I think he's, like, obsessed with the surfaces of contemporary life in the way that, like, we're all infected by it. I mean, these are some, you know, gnarly battle sequences, though. I've watched this on the train. It's, like, on the Metro North yesterday, and I was like, oh, okay, so there goes someone's, you know. No, for sure. It's incredibly intense. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, Louis is very good, and this movie made $150 million

and announced he has a big stock. Yeah, I think it has to be green. It's very, very green, for sure. 1993, one year later, his first collaboration with Martin Scorsese the age of innocence. Yeah, baby. Green, green.

One of the other films are the 90s. It's so good. Green. And, you know, it's so interesting because it was a movie that got an underwhelming reception at the time. And I think there was partly this sort of automatic bias against like, oh, Marty, you can't pull this off.

And, like, wrong. Wrong. And I think there was a little bias against maybe Daniel Day Lewis to the head mountain. I don't know, because it's a movie I feel like it arrived at its masterpiece status a little later. I agree. It's just because it's a quiet movie. It's unrewarding in a way, you know. It is about restraint and regression.

Exactly, right. And it comes after for Scorsese, I mean, like pretty soon after Goodfellas. And it is obviously a kind of not a rejection, but sort of like, I'm zagging. Yeah, stylistically, but also emotionally and textually. And same for DDL and Last of the Mohicans. Like, he's not slashing people. He's, like, looking longingly in, like, an opera box. I cannot recommend the Mr. Scorsese documentary

that Daniel DeLuze's wife, Rebecca Miller made more. So excited. It's so good. But it's a movie that's a doc that takes time to spend seven minutes explaining why the age of innocence is such a triumph. Right. And what an incredible conceptualization. of a novel like this.

And she's like, and Daniel Day Lewis, this guy really rocks. He's creating it. I mean, one of the, up until this press run for anemone, you know, he has just not given very many interviews in the last 25 years, but he is featured prominently in this documentary. That rocks. And speaking really like, just sincerely about how much he loves Martin Scorsese and loves working with him, but also just like got his head blown off by taxi driver and whatnot. Anyway.

I liked it. Big silence guy? I mean, you might imagine. I would, I bet you. He probably vibe with silence. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The age of innocence is wonderful. It's definitely going in.

It's so good. He's good in it. He's great. I'm not sure that the movie, like, he's obviously a central performer, but I don't know that if you had a different actor, it couldn't work. It's not one of those kinds of performances, you know? Yeah. I think a lot of his movies, you'd be like, if you take Daniel Day Lewis out, this movie

falls apart, that isn't really true for this one. Like, if you would put, if you'd put, like, a young Rupert Everett, would this still be a good movie? No, because- You named an actor I don't love. Sorry, Rupert Everett. And I like him, but Rupert Everett, I like him. But what about, like, Colin?

Firth. Again, they are people with this silly strain, right? You know, they are like, I mean, and I think, I think also the Michelle Pfeiffer DDL chemistry, which is, like,

wordless, but, you know, by nature of the project is amazing and powerful, and he doesn't always have that kind of chemistry with other women's stars. She's also the best, and is like, still in her absolute groove,

that kind of lay out. Married to the mob until, I don't know where you cut it off to me, you would cut it off the one fine day. But he can stand up against her in a way that, like, I think Colin Firth would get blown off the screen by Michelle Pfeiffer.

Yeah, sure, you need someone with a lot of on-screen integrity. I mean, it is most, I like him in a lot, but it is a fight for writer. You know, like that's where you come away. Well, sure. Yeah.

Right, thinking about them the most. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But maybe it was also just like there were too many costume dramas. Because again, when I think about, like, why did this bounce off people a little bit at the time? Was it just like, we just had, we have all the merchant ivories. We had dangerous liaison. You know, we're getting too many of these.

Could be. I don't know. But it stood the test of time. Okay, green. Green, green for age. In the name of the father, the same year as the age of innocence. Yeah. And this is his second film with Jim Sheridan.

This is, I was just listening to a guy named. I believe his name is Brian Flanagan who runs Largo in Los Angeles. Oh, yeah, he was on WTF. Right. And he's a legendary figure in Los Angeles because he's been running Largo for all these years, and he's Northern Irish. And he said he lived through the Troubles, and he said this is the best film about the troubles. This movie rocks.

An amazing film. It's a great movie. Yeah. It is under sung to some extent now. It is. Why do you think that? Why do you think it doesn't have as much of a strong legacy? Because in the 90s, it felt like an announcement.

In my Irish family, this was a big deal. a very big film. Well, I would also just say the 90s were the peak of, you know, like, the final, like, era of the troubles number one. Like, I remember we moved to England in 1995. The Dockland's bombing happened shortly thereafter, and I was, like, a nine years old, they were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's still, like,

bombs that happened. And as a kid, I was like, huh? Like, you know, like... Right. But, uh, there was just that wave of Irish, like, present, you know, uh, political like the Chardon movies and the crying game and, you know, all the, right? Like, it was

this like wellspring of creativity and obviously there was so much like human suffering and injustice to document and this is just like a really great sober look at it you know and like and like at sort of a narrative that I feel like anyone can understand I mean I don't know it's a it's a very quick turnaround from Jerry Conlin's autobiography which it's based on which is called proved innocent right you know about his wrongful conviction, along with his father in 1974 of a bombing, linked to the IRA and the dispute at that time in Northern Ireland. Right.

It's about the 70s, but it's not, yeah, yeah. But it is also, for lack of a better term, a regular guy role for Daniel Day-Lewis. Obviously, he's playing this kind of martyred political figure. But he's playing a working-class guy, a normal dude. And is very affecting. Or like hangs out and smokes weed and, you know. Gets in a bit of trouble. Exactly.

The whole way they get him, right, is that he's already, he, like, robs of an apartment or something. Right. Like, you know, it gets in a little bit of trouble. And it's funny because we've, in recent years, we've seen Belfast and Say Nothing. And, like, this storytelling about this time in history is back in the news, I suppose. But this was one of the signature works of art about this time in history. Yeah. And it was, like, hugely lauded, right?

It was like best actor, Emma Thompson was nominated, Postaway was nominated, Best Picture, Best Director, like it was a huge deal. And it doesn't feel like it is in quite the same conversation with the most iconic Daniel DeLewis roles. I mean, he is regular and as opposed to like a mythical historical figure, right? And then, I mean, this is, we love a courtroom drama, you know, but this is of like very vintage 90s. They don't make them like this anymore.

It's so satisfying. And so satisfying. But for whatever reason in, you know, the letterbox halls of fame, that's not what we, it doesn't live on with the same weight as, you know, the other, the big scale look at all of these people getting their heads chopped off, Lastin, Mohicans stuff. I wonder if also it's because of what David was saying about Sheridan before, which is that he doesn't have this hallowed run in the 21st century. Right. He's a vaguely forgotten oter. I think it's also it's like again 1993 it's like the conservatives

are still in government in England England is still I mean of course England now has no problems Britain right now seems like it's going Yeah yeah yeah Smooth running smooth But like in the 90s it's still like Britain is the evil people who perpetrated

Like the evil government that perpetrated a lot of stuff It's still basically just in charge And quite hostile to Irish independence And like you know northern you know It's hostile like it's hostile like And so there's still this kind of urgency versus like you watch

Belfast now, well that's a bad movie but like even say you know where it's like no now it's a period piece. Flanagan was very upset about Belfast. He was like why are the streets so clean in this movie? The streets of Belfast are not clean. I am something of a brand of defender like I like him as like a goofy kind of

high energy like I just he cannot do gritty realism or whatever the hell that movie's going for. Who does he play in Oppenheimer? Neil's Bores? Yeah, it's great when he shows up. And it's basically a psych gag.

I enjoy it. I mean, we'll never forgive him for the Emmett Thompson stuff. But anyway. I mean, I think, yeah, kind of around a bit of an asshole. Sure. I mean, sorry. But, like, you know, as an artist, I don't know the man. I have not spoken with him.

You know, it's like I, like, I am team at my forever. Can we, can we just, can we talk about Daniel Day Lewis, a very English man, just being like the, being Irish? Being Irish. Being like the pride of Irish. And I know that He is of Irish descent Sure Look

And we claim him I claim him Mostly because he like works With Jim Sheridan Over and over again I think it's because of those three movies That he made Where he plays three very famous Irish figures

And his father was born in Ireland Yes And he wasn't you know I think he I think Cecil moved at a very young age to England And then became as you said The Paula Laureate So he's considered like an Irish

An English icon Right This is when I wanted to triple Check about Cecil Day But Ciesel de Lewis was Irish and born in Ireland. Some of his family, you know, did trace back to England. But, you know, he was...

That's true of all Irish, right? Well, I mean, you know, these islands are very near each other. Right. And it's fraught. You know, like, I get that it's fraught. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it's because he's both. We moved to London at the age of two.

But look, you know English, when I lived in London, you would meet these Londoners whose parents had lived in London for a long time, but say one of them was Scottish or whatever, they'd be like, I am Scottish, by the way. You know, like, and it was so vital, and it's, I understood it. Identity bound, yeah. Yeah, and also England sucks.

Scotland and Ireland rule. Yeah. Like, you know, and like, I remember as a kid you moved to England and there's such insane prejudice towards people with red hair there, partly because it's a small provincial country. And then, like, I said to my mom, and I was like, we call this kid like a ginger. And it's like, it's like loaded in a way that confuses me.

And she's like, David, it's like a thousand years of anti-Irish shit and Scottish. You know what I mean? Like what you are experiencing is like 12th century hatred of like Celtic people. You're wondering why I'm a little bit ornery sometimes. Yes. I am from a long line of men and women who are like, what the fuck? Get out of my country. And as this outsider who lived in England, I found the royal family to be like this goofy institution that was kind of amusing and interesting.

I did not have that understandable thing of like why do they get to be in charge of me even in a ceremonial way anyway so like I understand like he has that connection to the country

and it matters to him and he's good at doing Irish accents like he's great he's so credible in this movie and in the name of the father I think is going in automatically Oscar nominated a great film

yeah for sure but I think on Harold's a bit on Harolded I hope people will watch it now it's worth watching it's really good it is my feet favorite of the Sheridan films, though it sounds like maybe... Yes. And it is really watchable also, you know?

It's 90s conventional, but serious and moving. I have a very soft spot for In America, which is not a perfect movie, but has like these transcendent moments in it. But obviously, Daniel Day Lewis is not in that. Resonates very deeply right now. Yeah. You know, coming to this country as an immigrant. 1996, the Crucible.

This is a tough sit. So I call this movie. Straight to Homework. This is a kind of movie I call Straight to Homework. Yeah. Like where it's like the movie comes out, it doesn't resonate. If he got an Oscar nomination or two, I get it. But like, and then the studio's like, it's fine.

It's fine. It'll just play in schools for the rest of our life. You know, like that, that's what this will be now. This movie kind of sucks. Yeah, I'm trying to look up. So in 2014, I went to England and I saw the crucible at the old Vic. Sure. Who was in it?

And it was Richard Armitage was John Proctor. Sure. I could see him doing that. You know, it's in the round. And the production design was incredible, and it was astonishing. It was one of, it's one of the best theater-going experiences I've ever had in my life. The woman named Samantha Colley played Abigail, who I was not familiar with, who I guess is works in television in England.

Stunning. There's, like, a brilliant. And so you've seen the crucible work. Yes. Right, yeah, right. And, you know, I read it in school like everyone else, and I think it's a profound work of art. It's actually about, you know, we must know. Yeah, and also like it's about it.

You know, like, here we are again. I got it. I loved it. I think it's an essential text to understanding allegory for young, literate people. But I had never seen it staged because is there another film adaptation? There must be another film adaptation. I think there might be one from, like, right when it came out.

But I actually... It's kind of surprising if there isn't. Well, let's see. But this is not a great movie No There's a French one from 57 Okay But that

Oh The Crucible But maybe there isn't another film Version that I'm Yeah that's it This was the first And of course Miller did He wrote the screenplay and got an Oscar nomination

Which was kind of one of those like We're happy to honor a legend It's nice to have Arthur Miller the Academy Awards It's sort of around the same time that Branagh gets the famous Oscar nomination for adapting Hamlet, a movie where he caught zero lines. And they gave him a best adapted screenplay nomination. Now, here's the challenging thing about this. Yeah. Nicholas Heightner directed this movie.

You know what else he directed? Yes, Madness of King George and Center Stage. Yeah. So, and the object of my affection. Right. And the history boys, which is another adaptation of a kind of a Dobbins guy. I'm up to it. Yes, but this one doesn't work.

Yeah. Heiner was. I mean, casting Winona right? in your movie can really be a mixed a mixed situation and it's sort of at the end of her yeah but it is at the end of her yeah yeah yeah and it's like it's I don't think she is totally wrong in this and she is bringing something to the Abigail character that is like you know addressing yes addressing the sexism be really annoying. So, you know, respectfully, I was one once.

So, and unbelievable. And she, so there is, it's playing with the text a little bit. But does she, like, stand up against Daniel Day Lewis or Joan, or Joan Allen? Joan Allen is really good in this movie. I agree. It's that era where she was good in everything and was like this supporting, I think that he is just fine. I mean, like, he's all intensity. I just never really feel like he finds a guy in it.

He's just delivering the lines of, like, a ton of, like, roaring passion. It's like, it's all righteousness and no, no person. Yeah, it just feels like they were like, can you do Last the Mohicans guy? Can you do, like, long-haired kind of raw energy guy? I mean, I don't know what they said to him. They probably said more than that. I mean, they certainly said, meet my daughter, Rebecca. I didn't, I didn't revisit this fight.

I did because if I had seen it, it was in school. I made a memory of it. I can't remember. Nicholas Heitner, to shout him out, did make a lot of good movies in the night. became the national theater director when I was a teenager, the London's National Theater, artistic director, taking over from Trevor Nunn,

who is this very divisive, in my opinion, good, but interesting kind of guy. And yeah, the history, like, you know, spearheaded a lot of really good stuff. And you've still never seen Center Stage. He's never seen Center Stage is a boss. It's so good.

Yeah, that's a fun one. That'll be really good pod when I watched Center Stage and Mamma Mia in succession. It's kind of weird you've never seen Mama Mia. It is weird. See here we go again? Well, that would be an odd choice, right? To see here we go again.

Mama Mia is a, it's a calamitously made film. Everyone in it is good because they're having fun. It is a film that looks like it was directed by like Ascension Jetsky. Every shot is framed in a bizarre way. The lighting is better. It's just like what the fuck happened? They are in Greece and they look like they are on like a soundstage in my backyard. It's so bad.

And then here we go again. It's one of the scenes where you're like, Jesus, they already burned all the good songs. They're doing this weird Godfather part two, like narrative. Like, I don't know. How could this possibly be good? Excuse me. Excuse me. And then Cher shows up.

No, no, no. The whole thing is, and then that movie is 40 times better than the first one. Here we go again? Yes. So you're a Lily James person. No, it, well, I mean, I like Chloe James. Yeah. Red-blooded American man.

No, no, no. No, I just think that movie kind of rocks and is way better made. And, like, that movie's good. It's, it's okay. I mean, the original one has Merrill Streep screaming. The winner takes it all at Pierce Brosnan at the bottom of like, you know, on their way to a church. Singing like he's being attacked. Like, he sounds like a donkey and dress.

It just feels like there's like eight people on like holding him while he's like, you know, like you know what I mean? Like that someone's trying to drag him into hell. Right. But I mean, the winner takes it all seen is just one of the most incredible things that's ever happened. I love those movies. They're special.

But then the second one, and I'm sorry to spoil this for you. The second one, when Cher sings Fernando and Andy Garcia's Fernando. Like, I'm sorry, that is, to me, that is cinema. It's so wonderful.

I always say Andy Garcia plays a sentient bottle of red wine. Right, but like that is so much more fun than The Crucible, you know? Like, it's definitely better than the Crucible. Thank you for bringing it back. Red for the crucible. In 1997, the boxer.

Right. This is the third and final film with Jim Sheridan. And it's his first retirement. It's his first, like, I'm gone. I'm going to make shoes. And it was that I was 11. I lived in England. And it was, I remember the mythos of like, he like learned a box.

Like, look out. He's boxing good in this movie. And then. Do you box? Me? No. No, I don't know. Not yet.

No, I haven't, I haven't tried that one. Have you ever been in on that? I did box in high school but not in since it's become like the cool workout thing and men do. The way to exercise. Right. No, no.

No, I swim. No, I'm a swimmer. So the boxer, he did learn to box. This movie is kind of an inversion of in the name of the father where he plays a provisional IRA volunteer who goes to prison and he gets out of prison and is going straight.

He went to prison at like age 19. Like he was right. And he gets out and he's trying to go straight and he's trying to stay. out of the fight, yes, while fighting. Right, and it's about like intersonine warfare within the IRA, which was like a big thing. It's a real thing like of like, right,

there were splinters in the IRA versus of like how hard do we go, how do we fight for independence, like, how much sort of terrorism do we do versus like. And that's all interesting. It's not an uninteresting movie. It's sort of like a relatively engaging drama. I think it has a great final reveal. You know, like the ending is very exciting,

but it is lesser than the name of the father to me. That being said, I don't know if you, you know, when you look at the Hall of Fame, is this one of his best performances because of the transformational aspect. Whatever. She's pretty good in it. You guys are, you're going to, okay, yellow.

Yellow the boxer. Emily Watson's good in it. It's sort of nice to remember her peak. Like, right, this is right post breaking the waves. she's quite lovely in it but like I couldn't really tell you much about this movie that and I rewatched it

I didn't revisit that like that really stuck with me and it was I do feel like everyone was a little sick of his shit at this point I think you might be right like it's like playing these like very serious very intense men

and you know like he wasn't finding maybe the most engaging projects and then he's like well I'm not going to act anymore and everyone's like All right. Sorry.

Five years go by before gangs of New York. So he returns a decade later to work with Martin Scorsese again. This is a Martin Scorsese dream project. He's been trying to get off the ground for 25 years. Yeah, who are other guys who would have been Bill the Butcher? I think De Niro would have made sense in the 80s. Because there's so many, right, versions of this movie that were theorized or whatever, never got funded. Yeah.

I mean, there is obviously something to that voice that he brings. which is this interesting kind of new century American you know it is not because he is not doing the the British guy voice he's doing the over enunciated American voice

the bill of butcher but it's the first Daniel he's like Bain or whatever people are like wait what's this voice and then people start doing the voice because they're like I don't hear I never heard anyone talk like this

I'm a passionate and huge defender of this one I think this movie is incredible Some things in this movie are incredible It's a movie that I'm in at 172 for example So again I will redirect to the Mr. Scorsesey documentary Where there is a lot of discussion about the ways in which the script is changing every day Right it had so many passes over so many years

And you can feel it and there's a version of the movie that Jay Cox wrote in whatever 1982 that is a world like an all-time masterpiece But then it's a movie that was always going to cost an enormous amount of money to make because of its scale and it's never in my favorite Scorsese movie conversation. I will say, I think Bill the Butcher is one of the greatest Scorsese performances in the history of his movies. Have you all seen this movie 20 times or am I the only one? I've seen this only time.

I got a Cameron Diaz thing and Charlie's Angels was her last good movie. If you got a Cameron Diaz thing, this movie is like poison to you. I'm sorry, Charlie's Angels. was a masterpiece and then I had to get off the train I like Cameron Diaz. She's just a miscast in the movie. It's in this run of interesting like being to Imalcovich

Vanilla Sky is the year after or the same year but like where it's just like whoa Cameron Diaz is doing something right? Like there were like a few years of that but that's not this movie gets drowned in like the Leo hype and the movie only gets made because of Leonardo Caprio because he wants to make a movie with Martin Scorsese

Right. And of course, he spies an opportunity. Yes. And it leads to this long-running relationship between the two of them. And it is Leo using his powers for good. I mean, that's really what it is. You know, even if the film doesn't totally come together, it's him saying, doing the thing that we've been litigating this year with one battle after another, where he's like, I kind of only want to make movies that I want to see. Right.

With directors that I think are interesting. I'm no longer making, like, strategic. Yeah, so De Niro at one point. I think Malcolm McDowell, like way back in the day, But I think he may have been considered for either lead role. Like, I don't know. He would have been a good bill to butcher. Right.

Like, there's definitely some Alex from Clockwork Orange in there, the kind of sadist intensity. But he's, to me, young David, I was like, I can't, who is, like, I knew who he was, but I was like, he lived up to the hype of, oh, you don't understand. This guy's like a cage tiger and, like, he's back. And he's playing the most ridiculous guy you ever saw to flash to the future. kind of in my opinion playing evil Abraham Lincoln

it's got a big stove high hat it's a civil war movie and he's just like I hate everyone who's not me you know like and I'm okay I'm okay with doing it's definitely going he was always going in he was going to win the Oscar the America's speech is like one of the great scenes in the Scorsese

filmography it's to me it's just like a really it's a Frankenstein of a movie but at a young age it makes sense that it would just like overwhelm you because if it's so big and so intense but it was like he was going to win the Oscar, right? It's that year where everyone in Best Actor,

he wins, like, a lot of the precursors and stuff. Everyone nominated for Best Actor had won an Oscar before, except for Adrian Brody who wins, right? Am I getting this right? Interesting. It was the year where DDO was the fave, and then you had, like, Nicholson and About Schmidt, Cage in Adaptation, and there's

a Michael Canaan, quite American? Very good. Wow. That was very impressive. Thank you. And I think because all those guys were these veterans, like, and because Adrian Brody was so, you know, and the penis just came on late and all that. They had also very recently won. Yeah.

And so Adrian Brody wins, but it was supposed to be his third Oscar. Not like in some grand narrative way, but everyone was kind of like, oh, I guess get out the way. Like Daniel Day Lewis is back. Yeah. And it's interesting that he's nominated for actor, because I'm not sure if he is the leading actor of this movie. I think they probably ran him and Leo, but you're right. I mean, it's sort of, Chris Cooper wins for adaptation and in supporting. Did he'll might have won there, you know, if he had run in there.

Okay, category fraud will get you Everywhere or somewhere Until you win because of it That's right Another three years go by He makes a film with his wife Called The Ballad of Jack and Rose He's since married Rebecca Miller

She writes and directs this small drama It's very unlike any other film he's ever made Kind of like a curious What is a reverse edipus situation? Sure, right Medea, no. Electra, thank you Starring Catherine Keener is in it Camilla Bell.

She does fight a guy whose tattoos come to life. That's right. That does happen in the film like. Colin Farrell. Sun dance movie,

small film, didn't make like a ton of waves. I hate this movie. I think it sucks. Yeah. I've never liked this movie. I don't mind it. There's something about it that sets my teeth on edge.

It's so interesting that the two times he's collaborated with a family member, he's played an off-the-grid guy. Like, he did this with his wife. And then, right, like, 20 years later, his son is like another guy off the grid. And he's like, I fucking love being on the grid.

I love when you can kind of like breed into the circumstances right a little bit there. Why are they writing these parts for this man? It's good, right. A man apart. This is a much, like an an anemone. Anemone.

You know, he's playing a guy who's haunted by sort of specific circumstances. This is like Irish mosquito coast where it's just like, why is this guy like this? Yes. He's just kind of a pain in the ass and his family needs to be shot of him. He's charismatic in his way.

I'll tell you what I see it as a kind of like post 60s retreat You know like we're talking about Bob Ferguson You know like it's fantastic Was that one too? Very good comp Yes very similar Sort of like the world in the 70s broke my heart Right can I'm retreating from it

And I'm going to protect my family But sometimes that isolation breeds A kind of bizarre closeness That is a little bit toxic You know what the best version of that movie is I really like this movie I'm surprised to hear you say that Yeah Sorry but you know what the best version of that movie is

what is it? Eminet Shyamalan's the village for one of the great movies well it's about a community and not a family but it's the same thing of like can I protect my kids from the world

the heartbreak of the weather underground by building a fence you know the answer is no did they come out in the same year when's the village oh four? I think it's village is O4

yeah okay I don't think it's going in because it's not considered one of his great performances it's pretty forgotten it is yeah and it was not Camille and Belle

very winsome young I don't know She was around for a while horror movies right Wasn't she Was she in the When a Stranger Calls remake? Yes she was That's right

And She was in one of the sister ones There was one with sisters or something Not from Prada to Nata Probably not Yeah I haven't seen none It sounds like a horror film in a way

I would hate to go from Prada to Nada I'm sorry to same You would be terrible I'm at Nata So I'd love to go to Prada I haven't heard of most of these films in the last 10 years. They seem to be Netflix originals.

Jack Sanders has already greened there will be blood. Sure. Yeah. I think that's acceptable. 2007, he's probably got his pick of projects at this point. Multi-Oskar winner, multi-oscler nominee, and Paul Thomas Anderson writes for him, There Will Be Blood. Right.

His story about an oil man. Was he, he, he's a, he's a, he's a, He's an oil man. Was he resistant to it? Like, I can't remember if there was, like, that in the backstory of, like, PTA being, like, I wrote this for you and him being like, well, don't write things for me. When he was on Bill Simmons's show, we asked him about it. And we tried to get him to kind of demethologize some of this.

But he, I mean, PTA. And not. Paul Thomas Anderson, yeah, not Dana-D-D-Lewis doesn't want to talk about, like, this or... I mean, it seems like he would have today. 86 Celtics. Oh, you never know. I mean, you never know. He likes, he's a Millwall fan, which is really interesting because...

What's Millwall? That's a soccer club. Millwall is a soccer team in East London that is even by British soccer team standards notorious for hooliganism. Interesting. And really intense fans. Their stadium is called the Den. They're not usually a Premier League team.

They tend to play more in the second tier. And that's one of those places where it's like, yeah, you go there if you want a stabbing. You know, like. And so it contributes to like this intense image you have of him of going to Millwall and like drinking Bavril and screaming. Well, they're, they're. There may not be a more intense character on his CV than Daniel Plainview. I mean, this is it. This is the calling card.

Yeah, this is a guy that it would be tough to get a cup of coffee with, right? Daniel Plainview. Well, he could be charming in a paternalistic way when he wants something until he kind of loses his mind. But part of what I think is interesting about this performance is it is a true spiral. Like from start to finish, he's obviously a man possessed from the very first time that you see him. But he does have to use his wiles to get into these communities and get the things that he wants. until it goes batch it. The heartbeat of the movie,

the tenderness with the boy and then the way it changes. And I mean, it's such a good movie. I haven't watched it in a few years. I figured I didn't need to revisit it to read that it is a green. We're being confronted by

what is the best Paul Thomas Anderson movie because we've been doing 25 for 25. Right, mine's coming up in this discussion. Okay. That's exciting. All right. But this is his opus. This felt like the kind of like

he's got the early, messy, masterpiece kind of things. then he does punch drunk love and everyone's like weird and like I mean I love that movie to be clear but like you know and then he comes out with this and everyone's like yeah yeah whatever canonical American great director yeah it's an instant classic yeah you're not going to be deposed from that kind of rank now yes yeah I think like a movie about America you know right right it is it is a a capital T themes movie yeah that also features I think if you just pulled anyone who would define themselves as a movie fan what's the best movie act

acting performance of the 21st century. This is going to come up a lot. Yeah, of course. It's obviously Otto Green. It's also a capital M memes movie, though. It is like a people, younger people on the internet are like this voice, these lines, the milkshake scene, like whatever. Like, there's stuff that younger people are responding to.

There's nothing I like more than give me the blood lord when he's receiving the body of Christ. Do you like this movie, Amanda? I like it. I admire it. I accept it as a masterpiece. But it's not like a... Well, we did PTA rankings and it's not, you know, updated PTA rankings. And it doesn't speak to me the way like the back half of the career does that which, you know, features women.

This movie is light on ladies. Yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty closed off. It's like, and again, it's a masterpiece. But sometimes I'm like, that seems like a you guys problem, you know? So, like, and it's... I'm going to be like, all right. So it's going to be interesting what we decide to do on 25 for 25. It sure is.

2009, 9. The film is called 9. Yeah, of course. Is this sequel to 8 and a half, baby? That's why it's called that, right? You guys know that, right? How does this happen? Well, is it a sequel?

It's not, the title 9 is a jokey reference to the fact that it is 8 and a half as a musical. Yes. So talk me through this. Well, so I really love the musical nine. I'm a Broadway musical nerd. All right. Do you also like Wicked? I do.

I am not a huge fan of that show. Okay. But I do kind of salute its enduring Howard in a way. I enjoyed the movie. It means a lot to a lot of people. Yes. But nine, I saw Antonio Banderas play this role in the Broadway revival. The original was Raul Julia, who,

It was in the 80s. I'm sure he absolutely freaked it. You can listen to recordings. But Bandaris did it in the early 2000s. Right around like when I'm sure this started to generate and fucking rocked. That's the one with Jane Krakowski. She won a Tony. And why not just, I remember when this movie got announced.

I was like, Antonio's right there. You can use him. He good at it. Instead they cast in a DeLuze. I think he was a late edition. Right? Like, wasn't something, maybe someone dropped out? Like, there was a bit of a weird genesis to it.

And this movie's directed by Rob Marshall. The men in contention for the role were George Clooney, Javier Bardem, Bandaris, and Johnny Depp. On May 14th, 2008, Variety reported that Daniel DeLuis was in talks to star as Grito Contini, the film's lead character, after Javier Bardem dropped out due to exhaustion. Sure, okay. I mean, I think it must have, right,

it's some for some reason Day Lewis like caught wind of this and wanted to do it and I'm sure when Day Lewis wants to do your movie it's like when Katie and Kyrie Irving joined the Nets where I think the Nets were like we didn't realize we were evening but like okay like you know what I mean

where it's like oh Daniel Day Lewis okay and maybe no one thought to send him down and go like do you like singing and dancing around it's I don't even really think that's the problem with the movie no it's not the right I was going to say the main problem of this movie is that Rob Marshall directed I was going to say how does Does he say yes to Rob Marshall?

That doesn't, it makes no sense. This movie is, this musical is adapted by Michael Tolkien and Anthony Mangella. If you just let Anthony Mangella make this movie, isn't this a much better film? Well, Mingela died, when did he die? He died right before this movie. It's right around right this time, which was very sad. He would have been better. He would have been perfect.

Had Marshall just done Chicago and Memoirs of a Gisha? Yes, no. So, obviously, he had successfully credible than we view him as now. He had very successful. brought Chicago to the screen. I'm not denying that. That movie's enjoyable. Memoirs of a Gisha is a trash fire. But I guess it had made some money and was a big

Tony project or whatever. Nominations. He comes to nine, which is a musical I really adore, and he's like, what if it's like what I did with Chicago where it's like a bunch of fucking catwalks? You know what I mean? Like, he has no further take. I feel like visually. And you're doing a musical that

is related to eight and a half, which is a fairly visually dynamic movie. Yeah. that's kind of well regarded It's a little of cinema I don't know I mean the ingeniousness of making

8 and a half a stage musical I understand completely It's a really fun show But as soon as you make it A cinematic experience You are burdened by the history of 8 and a half And you have to try to reinvent it And the problem is his conception of reinvention

is an artificiality That looks cheap Yeah The movie looks cheap It looks really junky He can't weirdly he can't shoot musical sequences. It drives me crazy because he's a great choreographer.

And like Chicago, again, I will sort of put aside. But ever since then, he cuts into the action constantly. He won't let you like enjoy choreography, which makes me so crazy. It's insane. He gets handed $200 million budgets by Disney every few years to make dog shit. I'm really going after. I've talked about it on the show before. Every single person I've ever interacted with who's interacted with him is like he's a really nice guy.

Of course, everybody loves him. Yeah. Yeah, he rocks. He's lovely to work with, but they don't look good. Yeah. His last few movies are The Little Mermaid Mary Poppins returns into the woods and Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides. When Mary Poppins returns is your best of your recent efforts, like you're in trouble. Yeah.

I'm sure he's a nice guy. Yeah. This is not going in a whole thing. 2012 Lincoln. Yeah. What a, what a banger. It is. It really is a banger.

What a banger. I told the story recently. Recently, CR and I went to Ye Rustic Inn, which is a dive-come hipster bar in Los Phyllis in L.A. We don't have to say that out of loud. But that is what it is. But Chris and I have been going there since the day we moved to the city. And we found ourselves there one night a few months ago. And it's a sports bar, renowned for its wings.

Yeah. Sounds good. It was very crowded. I think we had just seen a movie together and we went to just get a beer. And all the TVs were playing, you know, NBA, hockey. and then on one solitary television sneaky little screen against the wall

on the far right was a muted version of Lincoln and there was about 22 minutes left and Chris and I just sat there and watched it no captions and we just look at it some good blocking it's your version of you think we need one more

you think we need one more okay we'll get one more this is how meant you two express your love to each other yeah it was great I mean obviously we didn't get a chance to hear Daniel Day Lewis's performance when we revisit it.

But this is an amazing moment's power. This is another one where, like, they are just all playing dress-up. And with anybody else, it just, it would have been. And honestly. It's kind of a Boys and Their Toys movie in some ways. Like, same cast, but with a different Lincoln, they all do look like they're in, like, you know, the history pageant in, like, seventh grade or something, you know, like mock Congress or whatever we're doing.

But because you're willing to go on the, you're like, okay, well, now Daniel DeLewis is going to be Lincoln and I'm used to that at this point. And apparently his voice did sound like that. And so he went to the library of Congress to hear the recording or whatever, you know. But he brings like president, you're right. He brings presidential gravitas.

That is true. But Lincoln rocks. It's one of the funniest movies ever made. Like every time they're in Congress, It's just about Tommy Lee Jones basically calling people like snakes and worms. They're just like, by the way, all Congress was was like, the ugliest man in the world just spoke

and I condemn him to hell. That's different from right now, you're saying? Yeah, seriously. And then like everything in the White House, it's basically like it's dark as fuck, right? Everyone is cold because like it is cold. Everyone's wearing carpets. Like Lincoln's just like walking around like hovered in blankets.

He'll sit down and the great David Stratharine as well, William Seward or whoever, some great actor as one of his cabinet, is like, so what do you want to do about the Civil War? He's like, I had a client once who had a pig, and they're like, no, no, shut the fuck up. Shut up. This is the best thing about this movie. They're not like sitting being like, tell us. Like, stop telling you dumb, fulky stories, asshole.

Like, there's a war. And he's like, hmm, they're an old mill. It's like, it's the best. I really relate to that. It's the best. I really do relate to it. And then, of course, he'll have me. moments where he lights it up, right, where he gives you like this sort of like the thunderous

speech, right? The man of immense character who, right, is like, but it's all about like the dirty work of government that went into like getting the amendment passed and all that. Like, it's not a movie wisely that's like, it was a country lawyer and then he. Yeah. Yeah. This is also the point where I remember where you hear a lot about the method. And it's like, did it? he not use electricity for the entirety of the shoot or something? I don't remember what it was. Obviously, people have told the stories of addressing him as, you know,

Mr. President. Right. Yeah, yeah. Because, like, Adam Driver's in that movie, Jeremy Strong, like, all these, like, young actors. Another one of those two, Spielberg things, too, where it's like, oh, you just plucked out, like, the five most important up-and-coming actors for small roles here, because you just, you knew, you know, your casting director knew.

Right. Okay, Lincoln is going in. Not hard. It's the best. I'm honestly going to go re-watch it now. I didn't because I've seen it so many times. Please don't leave until we finish the Hall of Fame. I got to go. We're almost done. We're almost done.

We're almost done. We're almost done. We reach his peak and then it's basically just like every four years he would make a splash. He won the Academy Award for this film. He did. And rightfully so. And can you recall the nominees that year? All right.

So it's 20. Occurring in 2013. Yeah. Is the 2012 Oscars? No. Bradley Cooper. Mm-hmm. For silver linings.

Daniel Day Lewis. because it was like one of the things where it was like, we're not debating this. This is a good lineup. I don't know. Give me a hint. No, because like the other movies that year, it's like Life of Pie, Argo.

The PTA film, of course, is, fuck, it's the master, so Joaquin. Joaquin. Great performance. A bit of a ham sandwich if you ask me, but still great performance. But that's what we like about it.

Right. What else? Well, Hugh Jackman and Le Miz. Another film Sean has never seen. seen it. What have I done? Sweet Jesus, what I've had? The thing about Hugh Jackman is I love him as a star.

Like that movie is stinky. That movie is so bad. It was his first nom and you were kind of like, good job, buddy. You're going to have to see it now for the Amanda Safe Rude of it all. I know. Oh, she's all right in that movie. She's all right. And there are like a couple moments in Anne Lee where they're like too close to the Tom

Hooper like close up as she's singing, you know? And I'm just like, oh, you don't want to get away from it. Yeah, I've never seen any of her singing performances. That's so funny. Oh, yeah, Mamma, yeah, you don't have to do it, too. And then, wait, is there a fifth? Denzel Washington in flight. Pretty great performance.

And one that there was the briefest sort of like, should we just give dental a woman? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, this was the Lincoln win. I think it was the first Spielberg acting win ever. That's crazy. Which is one of those, like, wild statistics. Like, an actor had never won for one of his movies. And it was also, yeah, it was like, you know, twin powers unite.

Like, he just hooked up with Spielberg to do an Abraham Lincoln movie. It sounds like fake. Yes. Right? And then the movie you came out people were like kind of rocks.

And I feel like its reputation is good like it's like it's like it was a hit it was honored it was a big hit but it is

weirdly now reverse culty where it's like it's got like all the heads that really love it fucks all the late period Spielberg

yeah and it's like and now it's not even getting really honored at the Oscars and everyone was like well shrug but his late style

is like let's not please stop ignoring this like this is nobody does this okay 2017 Phantom Threat

your favorite PTA movie and your favorite PTA? Absolutely. Yes. But, you know, like, I put one battle at two so we can, you know, as time. Yeah, as time, it's time goes on. I mean, obviously a great film, a hilarious comedy about being married. And he finally can be funny. It was the whole thing going into this movie. But he's being funny by let, by being the old British version of Daniel Day Lewis. Sheek.

Whoever invented that word, we spanked in public. But I remember The trailers were a little misleading And we're basically like it's about this fucking genius guy Tortured Genius Right, right, right, yeah, here we go again It is that though Like everything that had pitched itself as

It is that It's got all of that And if you choose to view it that way You can and it's good But the intent is obviously Multi-level But I just remember They screened it at bam

It was the last, there's always the last film you see Before you vote At the New York Film Critic Circle like they sneak in it's wet off the press you know off the printer right like you're we were gonna

you gotta get in front of this one before you vote there's always something and I went in I remember not dreading it but being kind of like yeah why do you make this like

dressmaker movie and then like two minutes and I was like this is the funniest you should have ever seen in my life like this I can't believe I'm laughing so much I'm having so much fun

and like immediately you get the tone you're not like am I weird for thinking this but like when he's doing the big breakfast order or whatever. You're like, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, like, no, no, no.

This is what we're... Lesley, Manville is cleaning out. There's something very... Chesh your cat about the whole thing. Yeah, I remember I was at the arrow, and it was the asparagus scene where, like, the whole room figured it out, and it was, like, actually, and the last just, like...

Do you have a gun? Yeah. Yeah. But, like, the thing, he is really funny, and he is being funny by playing that uptight, like, DDL British character. Right. But, like,

he knows he's being funny he's just doing his version of comedy they get what they're doing it's just so no girl yeah I mean yeah it's it's amazing it's my it's such a wonderful movie it's just so interesting that this was the movie that broke him supposedly right

like that he had such a tough time with this character like and he generated this character with PTA or whatever and he was just like yeah it was just too much and I'm like that movie would energize me like it's so wonderful and fun you know but like But he is, he's kind of throwing himself on the pyre a little bit with like, you know, him becoming sick in that critical stage of the movie. And then the everything with the mother figure that is being generated, all that stuff is very weighty.

You know, it's, it still is your old school, Daniel Day, you know, learns how to become a courtier. Like the, the, that whole thing is really intense, even though it's hilarious. The best. Okay, so that's going in. Oh, Kuturier. Kuturee, sorry. Yeah, I was like, he's a courtee. 2025 anemone not going in no no it's not I'm glad he's back I would like him to keep working

the poop speech is good but who speech is good he looks good he looks great like it's very very healthy very virile um okay here's what we have okay I think we have to make a nominally easy choice okay in green already confirmed my left foot the last of the Mohicans the age of innocence in the name of the father gangs of New York there will be blood Lincoln and family Phantom Throne. Oh, that's eight. We got eight already. Yeah, we got it.

Okay. We have four yellows. Okay. Remaining. My beautiful laundrette. Yeah. A room with a view. The unbearable lightness of being and the boxer.

Okay. Now, we've already got two Jim Sheridan movies, so I suggest we remove the boxer. Agreed. I think that's an easy cut. No one's very enthusiastic about it. So it's basically, I think you, I'm going to argue for my beautiful laundrette for sure. Yeah. As an iconic early movie, as a breakout movie, as this well-remembered movie.

You know, I'm on board with that. And so now we're between lightness of being in room with a view. Yeah. So it's kind of like the star role, but, you know, not the best remembered versus the good supporting, better movie, but is he what's remembered for it? I'm inclined to say the Unbearable Lightness of Being. We knew that about you. This is a two-hour and 45-minute historical epic about agony and lost love and lost power. And he's at the center of the, he's holding the movie.

Yeah. Now, obviously, Benocia and Lina are wonderful in this movie. A number of great performances. A room with the view is shorter, but who's to say it's not about the same stuff? True. I just mean his part in it.

I mean, he's like, he's the third leave. He's like the fifth lead. Yeah, no, he's less vital to room with a view. I would pick room with a view, but I don't really care. I mean, I just like a room with a view more. But that's not what the Hall of Fame is. No, it's not.

You're not wrong. You're not wrong. The Hall of Fame is the Hall of Fame. Stars and bars? No, okay, fine. Rightness of being. Rightness of being. Oh, thank you guys.

Check, Doctor who fucks. Yeah. That's nice. The Czech Doctor who fucks. You were sort of a Philistine for not understanding a romance of you. No one ever said I don't understand it. I don't, just because I did not prostrate myself before it. What is your favorite merchant ivory if you have one?

I remember Wings of the Dove making a big impression on me as a kid. Great movie? Very sexy movie. But yeah, I also enjoyed Jefferson in Paris. That one I don't remember very well. That's Nolty as Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson. I'm in Paris.

What are the other canonical? There's a couple of major ones. Remains of the Day and Howard's End. Oh, yes. Those are both wonderful. Yeah, those are wonderful. And this is really disrespectful to Emma Thompson. I'm still more partial to the Howard Zen remake.

The Kenneth Lonergan one? Yeah. Yeah, that's very good, Haley-A-Wel. And my wife, Haley Atwell. Yeah, that is very well done. It is pretty legendary. Remains of the day holds up really well because Yeah, that's probably the best one, right?

The Nazi subplot in it is hits right now. I recommend watching that movie. Okay, yeah. But again, I haven't seen all that stuff between like 70 and 81. I saw the divorce in the theaters. Absolutely. So, you know. I was there with my mom.

Yeah. That was the best stuff. That movie is not that good. No, it's not good. Do you feel good about this Hall of Fame? I mean, I do. I think he should feel good. I think he does.

I hope so. I hope he's happy. I hope he's happy. I think he is. But I mean, like this episode to me was just going to be a more fun way to talk about his career. I didn't think there was going to be much drama about the greens. Yeah. There's not and there wasn't.

And that's okay. These are not about drama. We're building something. Well, it's the same with my drafting strategy. There was no antagonistic behavior for me. No, you were very kind. You had the turn? I did have the turn, which is a nice place to be.

It was where I wanted to be. Yeah. That was where I wanted to be. I was very happy. I was very, I really did not want first pick. No, it's hard with that many people. How are that many people in with a category that broad? Chris made a choice.

But that's why he's Chris. It was great. That's why he's there. Really good stuff. Thanks, David Sims. Of course, thank you for having me. I'm glad you guys put up with me. It's really, I'm a big fan of the show and it's really nice to be on it.

Well, we love you. I love blank check, and we hopefully, well, maybe we'll appear on blank check at some point in the future. 2026, guys, look out. Thanks to our producer Jack Sanders for his work on this episode. Thanks to Amanda, of course. Next week, we return with number nine in our 25 for 25 countdown. It's a good film. Don't remember what it is, but I'm excited to watch it again.

We'll see you then. You know,