Great cinematic performance: Daniel Day-Lewis comes from literary roots

Being a language oriented blog we encourage folks to be readers, to on occasion in this cinematic age, experience a story through the lens of one's mind, a more democratic instrument than the lens of a camera. Actor Daniel Day-Lewis is the son of a man who was a poet and member of the Irish Academy of Letters, Cecil Day-Lewis . The elder Lewis also had been a professor of rhetoric.

In saying this, good to report that not all is lost on the Big Screen. Below, a bold comment taken from a letter to a friend on Daniel Day-Lewis' performance in the now celebrated movie There Will Be Blood. The movie script was based upon the Upton Sinclair novel, Big Oil, which you are encouraged to read after experiencing the movie.

"Last night, after experiencing the movie There Will Be Blood, I had the distinct feeling, still do, that Daniel Day-Lewis' bravura performance may not be outdone in my lifetime. That’s saying a lot, I realize, but it may come true. Two forces came together to make it happen, Day-Lewis’ rare abilities linked with cultivated discipline, and writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's savvy in staging an opportunity for the powerful actor to gather the momentum necessary for rendering a herculean performance. Here, I speak of both script, (even though flawed) and a set "to play in" (to paraphrase Day-Lewis). Give Anderson credit also for drawing upon Upton Sinclair’s novel Big Oil for inspiration. Paul Dano was accomplished in his work, providing a helpful counterpoint for Lewis to complete his masterful interpretation of the Daniel Plainview character."

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