Following its World Premiere today at the New York Film Festival, the question must be asked: Will Daniel Day-Lewis in Anemone possibly enter the most rarefied territory at the Oscars an actor has ever gone?
Playing a man coming from a violent past and coming to terms with his own life and estranged family relationships, Day-Lewis gets yet another role worthy of consideration, as if the six-time lead actor Academy Award nominee, and three-time winner needs another Oscar (!) But his towering and moving performance, including a knock-out monologue shot in one continuous close up, feels like the Academy may be ripe to hand him, at the very least, a seventh career lead actor nomination, and possibly a fourth Oscar.
That latter statistic belongs only to Katharine Hepburn who won her first Oscar in 1933 for Morning Glory, and then waited 34 years for the second Best Actress prize (1967’s Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?) followed the next year with another for The Lion In Winter (in a rare tie with Barbra Streisand), and finally in 1981 with a fourth for On Golden Pond, a remarkable 48 years after her first.
Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine
Everett
Day-Lewis saw his first Best Actor win for 1989’s My Left Foot, followed by 2008’s There Will Be Blood, and 2013’s Lincoln. In a 21 movie feature film career he was also nominated for In The Name Of The Father (1994), Gangs Of New York (2003), and The Phantom Thread (2018). After the latter film, Day-Lewis announced his retirement from acting so it seemed that would be the end of it, but it took his son Ronan Day-Lewis to lure him back, not only directing him in Anemone, but also co-writing the original screenplay with his father.
Should Day-Lewis be called to the stage at the Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 for the fourth time in the Best Actor category, he would also join rarefied Oscar stats as only the second person to win an Oscar in a movie directed by his son. Walter Huston won Best Supporting Actor in 1948 for The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre which was directed by his son John Huston (who also won for directing that year’ and later in 1985 would direct his daughter Anjelica Huston to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Prizzi’s Honor).
Should the Oscar gods be smiling on Anemone, it would also not be surprising to see Supporting nominations come the way of Sean Bean as Jem, the estranged hermit brother Day-Lewis’s Ray reconnects with after 20 years, and also Samantha Morton who plays Jem’s partner and mother of her son, Brian. A nomination for the Day Lewis father and son screenplay could also be in play but the film is a dark, demanding, and deliberately paced drama that might find resistance from some if voters just watch it at home.
Anemone opens October 3 from Focus Features which could be enjoying an embarrassment of riches this year in the Best Actor category where they also have contenders Jesse Plemons in Bugonia, and Hugh Jackman as a Neil Diamond impersonator in Song Sung Blue which opens Christmas Day but will be closing the AFI Fest for its World Premiere later this month. Focus also has Paul Mescal’s acclaimed performance as the young Will Shakespeare in Hamnet, but there is talk that he might be campaigned for that in Supporting Actor. Ultimately the actors branch decides and Focus has to be careful not to risk being accused of category fraud for a performance with equal billing to co-star Jessie Buckley who admittedly carries the emotional weight of the film. Confusing matters Gold Derby’s betting charts currently have Mescal’s Hamnet performance in 11th place for Actor and 3rd place for Supporting Actor. In the increasingly crowded Best Actor race Day-Lewis is currently ranked 9th by the bettors but you can expect that, based on DDL’s track record at the Oscars, to climb in the hearts and minds of pundits as the season progresses.