Daniel Day-Lewis: The Last Of The Greatest Actors?

I thought of borrowing the title of today's blog from one of his movies, The Last of the Mohicans, where, when he was filming it, he stayed true to the lifestyle of a native American Indian by "surviving for days on a 3,000-acre expanse of the Alabama wilderness", according to TIME.  And while filming My Left Foot, for which he won his first best actor Oscar, he didn't want to get up from his wheelchair even during breaks.

That's Daniel Day-Lewis, the world's greatest actor, who just won his third best actor Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards. In this category, nobody has won three before. Until today.

He won his second best actor Oscar for his 2007 film, There Will Be Blood, and today, he won his third for Lincoln, portraying America's greatest president.

The quality of his performances is always above everyone else. He's so good, I consider him the male version of Meryl Streep, who incidentally, presented him his best actor Oscar at the ceremonies. Meryl, by the way, also has three Oscars: two best actress and one best supporting actress.

That's why when they announced the nominees for his category, I already knew he'd win even though I haven't seen his movie yet. Hugh Jackman was very good in Les Miserables, and according to my friend Roselyn, who lives in Hollywood (and who I think is a voting member of the Academy), Denzel Washington's performance in Flight was also very good. But the Academy usually votes for those who portray real people. Colin Firth as King George VI, Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, Jamie Foxx at Ray Charles and Geoffrey Rush as David Helfgott, to name a few. They all won. It's quite risky for an actor to portray a real person. But if he could pull it off, the Oscar trophy awaits!

Let's not forget last year's big winner, Meryl Streep, who played Margaret Thatcher. And today, Day-Lewis joked that Steven Spielberg's first choice for Lincoln was actually Meryl, and not him.

So, if you haven't seen Daniel Day-Lewis' other films, do watch them because you'll be watching a legend. But in the meantime, I await Lincoln to be shown at the CGV Cinema in my neighborhood and the replay of the 85th Academy Awards on TV. 

PS. I hope Channel CGV does not chop-chop the replay of the three-hour Oscar awards again. Last year, they reduced it into a one-hour show by cutting out most of the segments. Why do Channel CGV people do this? Lazy to write the English subtitles, perhaps? Hmm...