Daniel Day-Lewis Returns to Acting for 1st Time in 8 Years in Photo From Set

Daniel Day-Lewis is officially out of retirement after spending eight years away from a film set.

The Oscar-winning actor, 68, was seen in character in the first photo from the upcoming film Anemone, which will mark his son Ronan Day-Lewis’ directorial debut. The father-son duo also cowrote the film.

In the photo, Daniel sported a thick gray mustache and salt and pepper hair for his role. The film is set in Northern England.

“A middle-aged man (Sean Bean) sets out from his suburban home on a journey into the woods, where he reconnects with his estranged hermit brother (Day-Lewis). Bonded by a mysterious, complicated past, the men share a fraught, if occasionally tender relationship — one that was forever altered by shattering events decades earlier,” the synopsis of the movie reads, per Film at Lincoln Center.

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The summary continues, “An emotional powerhouse, this directorial debut is assured in both small details and grand gestures as it charts the path toward familial redemption against all odds.”

Daniel shares Ronan, 27, and son Cashel, 23, with wife Rebecca Miller. He also shares his eldest son, Gabriel-Kane, 30, with ex-girlfriend Isabelle Adjani.

Daniel last appeared on screen in 2017’s Phantom Thread, portraying the character Reynolds Woodcock. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for the role but ultimately decided to take a step back from Hollywood after the film.

Daniel Day-Lewis Rabbani and Solimene Photography/Getty Images

“Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor,” a spokesperson for the actor said in June 2017. “He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.”

After the announcement was made, Daniel admitted that retirement was taking some getting used to.

“Do I feel better? Not yet. I have great sadness. And that’s the right way to feel. How strange would it be if this was just a gleeful step into a brand-new life,” he told W Magazine in November 2017. “I’ve been interested in acting since I was 12 years old, and back then, everything other than the theater — that box of light — was cast in shadow. When I began, it was a question of salvation. Now, I want to explore the world in a different way.”

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He acknowledged that it was “uncharacteristic to put out a statement” about leaving Hollywood.

“But I did want to draw a line,” Daniel explained. “I didn’t want to get sucked back into another project. All my life, I’ve mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don’t know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do.”