Like Robert De Niro and Christian Bale, the actor Daniel Day-Lewis believes that to play a role really well you have to live the way the character lived. But sometimes his preparations can be extreme! For example, when he was playing a disabled artist in the film My Left Foot, Day-Lewis refused to leave his wheelchair. The crew carried him everywhere and fed him with a spoon even when he wasn't acting!
In In the Name of the Father, he played Ge Conlon, who went to prison for a crime that he hadn't committed Day-Lewis prepared for the role by spending several nights alone in a freezing prison cell. He told crew members to throw cold water at him, even when they weren't filming, because this had happened to Gerry Conlon. In 1997. Day-Lewis played the lead role in the film The Boxer. By the time filming started, he had been training for two years. seven days a week! He was as good as a professional boxer.
Other actors don't always like his approach. Day-Lewis annoyed co-star Liam Neeson when they were making 20 Gangs of New York together. He addressed Neeson by his character's name, even when they were chatting in the hotel after work. "I've never known anyone like him," said one crew member. "Daniel was playing a gangster called Bill the Butcher and when he was doing a violent scene 25 he got really furious. He was absolutely terrifying. He discovered later that Day-Lewis had been working as a butcher for months before filming started!