Daniel Day-Lewis clearly needed to physically, mentally and emotionally inhabit the world his characters lived in, and every performance seemed to push the envelope further.
Dripping in a certain cologne, he wore 1870s clothing and walked around New York for Martin Scorsese's The Age Of Innocence. He built a canoe, learnt to skin and hunt animals and literally lived off the land for Michael Mann's The Last Of The Mohicans, and not just did he obviously learn to box for Sheridan's The Boxer, but he spent three days sleepless in a prison cell to prepare for the director's In The Name Of The Father, after starving himself for the part.
He didn't enjoy the period character of The Age Of Innocence, famously hating the more European parts. He took it because it was Scorsese, he agrees, but wished the director had given him 'something more rough-and-tumble.' The chance came in 2002 with Gangs Of New York, (above) featuring Daniel as glorious villain Bill Cutting. Day-Lewis trained as a butcher for the film, and spent a few days learning to throw heavy knives. Reportedly, he also got quite used to the stovepipe hats.
Also read: Nominee Spotlight: Tommy Lee Jones
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