Day-Lewis not too big to use subway, flip-phone
Daniel Day-Lewis is a man of many talents — we know this (three Oscars and time spent as a cobbler).
He is also, brace yourselves, a hipster. Seemingly of the “I don’t own a television set” brand. (Though he actually does, in fact — his favourite show is the terrible reality series Naked and Afraid.)
Day-Lewis is a method actor of the highest calibre, so maybe it sort of comes with the territory. He’s learned whole new languages for a role, spent months in a wheelchair despite being able-bodied, hasn’t bathed, built a canoe, designed a dress, learned to box, lived in isolation, spent time in jail, you name it, he’ ll do it.
Daniel Day-Lewis, in other words, is an enigma, a shape-shifter, an artifact of the past, an illusion.
And he also uses the subway like a regular human being and owns a flip-phone like an irregular human being.
When journalist Karen Han documented that DayLewis does indeed own a flip-phone (justice for the Motorola Razr) the internet — naturally — exploded. Han captured a shot of the elusive actor in the New York City subway casually captivated by his flip-phone, none the wiser to onlookers. One wonders what exactly he was looking at.
Because, of course, with flip-phones, one has no real connection to the outside world.
Sure, you can call your loved ones, but your social media access is spotty and, if you dare to bother snapping a selfie, it’s hella lowquality.
From previous interviews, we do know, however, Day-Lewis is an avid texter.
While filming Lincoln, he would text co-star Sally Field in character, and he began a close friendship with Phantom Thread director Paul Thomas Anderson via texting jokes and mock dialogue back-andforth.
The photo evidence led to a swath of Twitter users wondering if it might be time to pare back and get a flip phone of their own, technology be damned.
Then again, maybe he was just in character for his next role.