Daniel Day-Lewis in ‘Nine’: still hot as hell

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My mother and I were talking about Daniel Day-Lewis the other day, and I was surprised to learn that she doesn’t find him sexy. My mom’s favorites are men like James Garner, Jack Nicholson, and George Clooney, if, in my mom’s words, “he’s not being so boring and artsy-fartsy like he was in Solaris”. Daniel Day-Lewis is dark and brooding, he’s got the accent, he seems like a decent family man in real life, and he’s got talent oozing out of his pores. What’s not to love? Well, my mom thinks he’s a “strange bird” and he seems “off”. To me, however, Daniel is the total package – I love his voice, I love his talent, I love the strange way he dresses (he really does have style!) and I love the way he looks. He’s not a pretty man, like, say Robert Pattinson. But there’s something beautiful about him, I find.

You know who else has a crush on Daniel? Oprah! I finally saw Daniel’s interview on Oprah to promote Nine, and Oprah had to stop herself mid-question to say “you’re so cute!” He is, too. I even like him with the full head of grey hair. Sigh… here’s part of Oprah’s interview with Daniel:

Next up is Daniel’s interview with The Daily Mail. It’s actually a really great piece, and Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, and Nicole Kidman are interviewed as well. Since I don’t care about those bitches (no… I do, I just want to talk about Daniel), I’ll just give you Daniel’s part of the interview. He’s amazing.

Daniel Day-Lewis has portrayed all manner of hard men in his career: warriors, a boxer, thugs. But the thought of playing a song-and-dance man frightened the life out of him.

Rob Marshall, who made the Oscar-winning Chicago, was determined to secure Day-Lewis to play Guido Contini, an Italian film director suffering a creative and personal crisis in the film musical Nine, certainly one of the year’s best movies and, believe me, the sexiest.

‘Guido is four or five days away from shooting a film and he hasn’t a f***ing idea in his head,’ Daniel told me in Manhattan this week. ‘I did say to Robin the early stages: “Is there any way of getting out of this? I have a list of actors who could do it tomorrow!” He tried to convince me I could sing and I said: “You’ve no idea if I can sing or not!”‘

Day-Lewis said the last time he’d sung publicly was when he was in the local church choir when he was a child.

‘I sang feebly a couple of times, and on the grounds of that Rob managed to convince me it was worth pursuing,’ he continued, adding that dancing was out of the question. ‘I know dancers, and I know what they have to do with their bodies. I can do a lot of stuff: I can climb, I can run, I can cycle, I can box. But I can’t dance.’

I’ve seen Nine twice and Day-Lewis doesn’t do a lot of dancing – but his Guido moves with a dancer’s grace. He laughs when I tell him this, eyeing me as if I’d had a few drinks with breakfast.

‘I used a lot of 3-In-1 to lubricate those stiff old joints,’ joked Day-Lewis, 52. ‘It’s not natural grace – that’s sheer effort of will. Like a lot of ageing athletes, I tend to be creaky. I work at staying looser, but my limbs are a mass of scar tissue through years of doing things I shouldn’t have.’

Ultimately, what swung it for him was Marshall’s enthusiasm. ‘Rob’s principal weapon in his armoury is the weapon of constant encourangement,’ he said. ‘It somehow makes you believe this thing isn’t completely beyond your reach.’

While he was finding his singing voice (a rich baritone, by the way), he was able to study why Guido found himself locked in a wasteland of his own making. In his head, all the important women in Guido’s life swirl about in a jumble of fantasy, memory and reality. But at its heart, the film is all about winning back the love of one woman: his wife.

Daniel watched all of his leading ladies rehearse. He would dress in character and sit in a corner for hours and simply observe. Danny Boyle, who directed Slumdog Millionaire, wanted Day-Lewis to play Henry Higgins in the much talked about new My Fair Lady film, but Boyle left the project when he was not able to secure the actor’s services.

Day-Lewis is not keen to talk about it. ‘I feel that until this (Nine) has moved along, I can’t contemplate doing something else,’ he told me.

[From The Daily Mail]

Daniel Day-Lewis as Henry Higgins? I would f-cking die. Previously, I’ve felt very strongly that My Fair Lady did not need to be remade. But Daniel as Prof. Higgins. Oh, yes. Yes, dear God. That would be incredible. If you’d like to see the first trailer released from Nine, go here. There’s a second one with Kate Hudson too – and she sounds good. But here’s the rehearsal footage/montage from Nine:

Stills from ‘Nine’ courtesy of WENN. Additional photos of Daniel at LAX on November 18, credit: Michael Wright/WENN.com

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25 Responses to “Daniel Day-Lewis in ‘Nine’: still hot as hell”

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  1. fizXgirl314 says:

    damn, I’ve loved this guy forever!

  2. Jillian says:

    Yummy

  3. An23tom says:

    The best actor of the last 20years. He’s uncomparable.
    I still can’t forget his kiss with Madeline Stowe in “The Last of The Mohicans”.

  4. kruczynski says:

    Can’t wait to see Nine! The cast looks perfect and… Queen Sophia! Even with a colander on her head she’d be divine. Love her.
    And D.D. Lewis, nothing to say, he is perfection, heartbreaking as Gerry Conlon in In the name of the father.

  5. Celebitchy says:

    Kaiser I didn’t get your enthusiasm for DDL until I watched the interview and now I really get it. He is so hot! There’s something so genuine about him and he does have a lot of sex appeal. I saw him walking down the street in Greenwich Village in the 90s once. He had on layers of coats that kind of flowed behind him and he looked so majestic.

  6. Kaiser says:

    CB – Lucky bitch! The only celebrities I’ve seen in real life are a-holes like… David Spade.

    No, but I really love Daniel. In interviews he comes across as a very decent, sweet man. But he’s able to project literally every kind of persona. It’s pretty incredible.

  7. Jane says:

    I am so excited about this movie. I am going to be in line the day it opens. What a cast!!

  8. Sumodo says:

    Matt Damon! He’s not Matt Damon! So, Daniel Day-Lewis can STFU. Could DD-L ave been in The Departed? No! I loves me some Matt Damon, not DD-L

  9. MymaJane says:

    Watching the rehearsal montage gave me chills!

  10. Mairead says:

    *sputters* Daniel Day-Lewis not “as pretty as” Robert Pattinson? Get thee to an opticians immediately! Just because he doesn’t bleedin’ sparkle :p

    Kaiser, if you like cooking programmes you might want to check out his sister Tamasin’s. It takes a while to appreciate it, but she is very watchable. She is the complete Anti-Sandra Lee as in some of them her house barely has walls much less matching dai-dais and tablewrecks. 😉

    I adore 81/2, so I am looking forward to this. Actually Kate Hudson can hold a note (as well as an accent shockingly) – she did a decent job in “About Adam” with Stuart Townsend.

  11. Kaiser says:

    Mairead, yes, I definitely hold “not sparkling” against DDL – nay, ALL MEN.

    😆

    Actually, DDL reminds me of my first inappropriate teenage crush ever, John Malkovich. They both have that sexy, cultured, non-sparkly thing.

  12. WTF?!? says:

    He doesn’t do it for me, either. He’s incredibly talented, but he reeks of pretension and always looks sickly.
    Anyone who is a true fan of the stage musical NINE should cut the film a wide berth. You will be appalled, then very, very disappointed.

  13. Attagirl says:

    It’s called talent without ego. Something most American actors don’t know about. He harkens back to a day when actors were respected for their trade, not the kind of sleezy, facile, ingenuous press they all aspire to these days. He’s a class act and total talent.

  14. Bek says:

    Oh Kaiser! I’m so glad that you and I share the same passion for Daniel Day-Lewis! He’s always been my favorite. He’s incredibly talented, and he’s soooo hot! Even in The Crucible, with ratty hair and bad teeth, I’d do him without thinking twice. So refreshing to hear you think so too. And I love his acting methods as well. He’s crazy in a please-take-me-into-the-other-room kind of way. Who doesn’t want a genuine, talented guy who’s 100% real MAN?!?!

  15. NicoleAM says:

    If I were his wife, I would never get up from my knees. I’d just crawl around all day waiting to service him 🙂 Incredibly sexy! ***drools***

  16. original kate says:

    oh my god, he is the hottest thing ever.

  17. fizXgirl314 says:

    interesting facts about DDL… did you guys know his wife (who is the daugther of the famed playwright arthur miller) directed “the secret lives of pippa lee” and I believe also wrote it…

    she was a gorgeous woman, still is but she’s a lot older now… I’ve totally had a crush on him since “a room with a view” and that was a LOOOONG time ago… he played a prissy fiance and he was so good… It’s amazing watching him go through so many different roles and be convincing in EVERY ONE OF THEM… gawd, what a talent… and seems stable too… he’s only been married once…

    anyway, totally love this guy… he’s so awesome…

  18. Green Is Good says:

    @Attagirl: very well said!

  19. Green Is Good says:

    Additional: I LOVE the video! Looking forward to seeing this movie.

  20. Rose says:

    Good grief, he dumped his pregnant girlfriend Isabelle Adjani by fax(!) when she was seven months pregnant with his son, and married Miller in secret while dating/living with Deya Pichardo. Talented man yes, no question. But a total cad and a terrible snob.

  21. asiont says:

    I love him in “in the name of father”

  22. NFLer says:

    Was hot back in the day, not so hot now.

  23. DiMi says:

    He’s looking old to me. I used to love him, but isn’t he abusive in relationships or something? Turned me off to him.

  24. lindah says:

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  25. Bobbi says:

    OMG, I’m so happy to find out I’m not the only one who’s crazy about DDL! Though he gets some attention for being a remarkable actor, I believe he’s totally overlooked as a sex symbol. And come on – what’s not to love about him? He’s smoking hot! I’ve loved him since I watched The Name of the Father. I would totally do him as Gerry Conlon, but as a matter of fact, I think I’d do him as Christy Brown as well.