Daniel Day Lewis was "involved in every aspect" of ‘Phantom Thread’.
The 60-year-old actor plays dress designer Reynolds Woodcock in the new movie from Paul Thomas Anderson and producer JoAnne Sellar was impressed by Daniel’s interest in the tiniest details.
Sellar told The Hollywood Reporter: "I was with him on ‘There Will Be Blood’, so I had been through it once and understood his process. He’d worked with Paul for a year and a half or two years on the script. He is really involved in every aspect, from all the set dressing to, obviously on this, costumes, and even down to the locations."
And Sellar called Daniel’s "meticulousness" a huge asset to the movie.
JoAnne said: "The beauty of Daniel was that he was born and grew up in England. Just for example, when you’re casting actors or actresses, hearing the right tone of accent, whether that person’s posh or working class – that is something that you just innately know as a person who grew up in England, where Paul wouldn’t know that necessarily. Even just the kind of place that Reynolds Woodcock would take Alma on her first date. So he was a huge asset, and his meticulousness, and the way that he gets so into character was a boon to this film. Once he’s really in character, there really isn’t much left to talk about, and he just gets on with being Reynolds. And then it’s just amazing to watch, watching him perform his art."
And Paul also collaborated with Daniel on casting Vicky Krieps to play Alma.
Sella said: "When Paul originally thought of this idea, he always thought the woman was going to be an immigrant in the story, so quite early on our casting director, Cassandra Kulukundis, was given the task of finding an unknown European or Eastern European actress. Paul watched Vicky in a film called The Chambermaid, which he really responded to. We did camera tests, and when Paul saw hers, he just flipped out, and showed it to Daniel, and they both thought she was amazing. They met with her pretty early on. They knew immediately they’d found her, and I remember them running in to me, like two giddy schoolboys, going, ‘We found her!’"
Daniel Day Lewis ‘involved in every aspect’ of Phantom Thread
