I tried to Lock Daniel in for my new drama
Director Jim wanted star out of retirement for jet bombing role
FILM director Jim Sheridan wanted to work again with stardaniel Day-lewis – but the actor wouldn’t come out of retirement.
Sheridan is spearheading a new Sky drama on the 1988 Lockerbie bombing where 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded on a plane flying over the Scottish town.
After the pair collaborated to great acclaim in The Boxer and My Left Foot – where Day-lewis won the first of his three
Oscars – the director wanted to reprise their working relationship.
But the actor was not interested in rekindling his stellar career.
A source said: “Jim really wanted Daniel but he retired. He would’ve loved to have worked with him again.”
Explaining his retirement in 2017, Day-lewis, 60, said: “It was something I had to do.
“I need to believe in the value of what I’m doing. The work can seem vital. Irresistible, even.
“And if an audience believes it, that should be good enough for me.
“But, lately, it isn’t.”
The Lockerbie drama is based on the search for justice by Dr Jim Swire and his wife Jane whose 23-year-old daughter Flora died in the atrocity which was linked to Libyan intelligence.
The five-parter is in the early stages of production – with Jim and Dr Swire writing the episodes while the director’s daughter Naomi will pen one.
All 259 passengers and crew died when a bomb exploded on board Pan Am Flight 103, from Frankfurt to Detroit.
A further 11 people died on the ground in Lockerbie when the plane crashed.
Dr Swire campaigned for the truth behind the attack as he fought for justice as spokesman for the support group UK Families Flight 103.
In 1990, in a bid to highlight lax airport security, he carried a fake bomb onto a flight from Heathrow to JFK and then on a plane from New York to Boston.
He lobbied to bring the bombers to trial.
Dr Swire met former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who in 2003 accepted responsibility for the bombing and paid compensation to the families.
He later advocated for the retrial and release of Abdelbaset al-megrahi, who was originally convicted for the crime and extradited to Scotland.