Question 1

True or false: He originally turned down the role of Abraham Lincoln because he found the script boring.

Accepted Answer

False. He was hesitant about playing Lincoln due to the weight of the role, not boredom. He accepted after Steven Spielberg personally persuaded him.

Question 2

True or false: Day-Lewis learned 19th-century survival skills, including trapping and skinning animals, for 'The Last of the Mohicans'.

Accepted Answer

True. He built a canoe, hunted, and lived in the wilderness for months to authentically portray Hawkeye, even carrying a period-accurate rifle everywhere.

Question 3

True or false: Day-Lewis once refused to break character for an entire six-month film shoot, even off-camera.

Accepted Answer

False. While intensely method, he didn't stay in character for entire shoots. He famously broke character to chat with crew between takes on most films.

Question 4

True or false: Daniel Day-Lewis is the only actor to win three Best Actor Oscars.

Accepted Answer

True. He won for 'My Left Foot', 'There Will Be Blood', and 'Lincoln'. No other actor has three Best Actor wins; Katharine Hepburn has four Best Actress Oscars.

Question 5

True or false: Daniel Day-Lewis performed all his own stunts in 'Gangs of New York', including a knife fight.

Accepted Answer

False. He did intense training and performed many stunts, but the knife fight was choreographed with a stunt double for safety. He famously broke a rib during filming.

Question 6

True or false: He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama in 2014.

Accepted Answer

False. He holds an Irish passport and declined a knighthood. He did receive a British knighthood honorary award but never used the title 'Sir'.

Question 7

True or false: He retired from acting in 2017 and became a professional shoemaker in Italy.

Accepted Answer

True. After 'Phantom Thread', he announced retirement. He apprenticed as a cobbler in Florence, a craft he'd pursued between films for years.

Question 8

True or false: He once insisted on being fed through a tube on set to stay in character.

Accepted Answer

True. For 'My Left Foot', playing Christy Brown with cerebral palsy, he had crew members spoon-feed him to maintain the physical limitations of his role.

Daniel Day-Lewis Trivia Questions