- 2 days ago
The cast of new thriller, Anemone were premiering their film at The London Film Festival. Written by no longer "retired" actor, Daniel Day-Lewis and his son, Ronan, the movie's set in Northern England, a man heads out on a journey into the woods to reconnect with the estranged hermit brother.
Daniel's return to film is surrounded by Oscar buzz. “Anemone” is scheduled to be released in UK cinemas on 7 November 2025. Report by Jonesl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Daniel's return to film is surrounded by Oscar buzz. “Anemone” is scheduled to be released in UK cinemas on 7 November 2025. Report by Jonesl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00It was unknown territory for both of us.
00:03I sometimes like to have a little break from the character when I go home at night and have some fishy chips.
00:08People were like, what's it called? I was like, I think it's called M&M.
00:11Easy feel to say, innit?
00:30It's just been a pure joy, really, from beginning to end.
00:36I mean, in many ways, it was no different to all the other things that we've chosen to work on together over the years.
00:43And yet, at the same time, it was unknown territory for both of us going into this, like starting from scratch and not knowing what we'd end up with
00:55and really not knowing if it would end up being something that could go into production.
00:59We actually didn't know.
01:01And so we're sort of both being quietly amazed by the outcome of it.
01:07Hello, nice to see you.
01:08How's it feel about the year of the comeback?
01:09You know, Oasis.
01:10Boys Zone just announced they're back and now DDL.
01:13That's pretty cool, isn't it?
01:14Daniel O'Day-Lewis back.
01:15Yes.
01:16Along with the other greats.
01:18Yeah.
01:19Good year it is.
01:20Yeah, it is indeed.
01:21Yeah, I'm glad Oasis are back, especially.
01:23I love them.
01:24But also Daniel himself and, you know, I think he's come back and,
01:28it really made an impact with his film.
01:30I mean, the scale and the focus and the power of his acting is obviously still there and I think he proves it in this film.
01:42Did you learn much from him?
01:44Because he immersed himself so fully in the project.
01:47Did you take anything from that?
01:49I don't know.
01:50I mean, I didn't really take anything from that.
01:53I mean, we all have our different approaches to acting and what works for one may not work for another.
01:58You know, I think we all try to give our all.
02:01I mean, I always throw myself totally into a part and focus and prepare.
02:07But I sometimes like to have a little break from the character when I go home at night and have some fishy chips or whatever I like to eat on a particular day.
02:14But Daniel's approach, as we all know, is very much method and it works for him and it works fantastically for him.
02:20How would you cope in the wilderness, do you think?
02:22How would I?
02:23How would you cope in the wilderness, in the wild?
02:25Me?
02:26How would you cope with it?
02:27Yeah.
02:28All right, as long as I'm centrally eating, hot water, internet, you know, whatever.
02:34Cup of tea.
02:35Yeah, cup of tea.
02:37And if Daniel and yourself were to kind of be up for the Oscar chat, how does that feel?
02:43How do you feel about all that buzz?
02:45No, I don't really take much notice of that.
02:47I just try and get on with what I'm doing and, you know, hope people like it.
02:51You know, I mean, I think it's a kind of mixed bag in a way.
02:54It's a dark film, but it's got, you know, it's a very deep psychological drama with two very conflicted characters.
03:06And, you know, I think there's some people who really respond to that and there are some people who won't.
03:11It's very much of its own kind.
03:13It's not there to hold your hand and tell you what's happening throughout the film.
03:16It's very unapologetic in its approach.
03:19And you make of it what you will.
03:22And just one more.
03:24Any other genres that you haven't done yet?
03:26Anything else you really want to get stuck into?
03:28Er, I can't, I just can't think.
03:32Can you look?
03:33Musical.
03:34Oh, jazz hands.
03:35Musical.
03:36Yeah, yeah, I'd love to do a musical.
03:37Do you actually?
03:38Yeah.
03:39You could be the baritone voice, couldn't you?
03:40I think so, yeah.
03:42I'd love to do the jazz hands.
03:44Hopefully, 2026.
03:46The comebacks.
03:47Not only Oasis, this guy over here.
03:49Oh, yeah, yeah.
03:50Tell me what happened when you just got the script and you had an inkling of who might be in this film.
03:55Er, it was actually the first.
03:58I've got an app called Speechify and I'm not even plugging it.
04:01They're not paying me off.
04:02I just think it's really, really good.
04:03But it's the first time I'd ever used it and it sort of like tells the story too instead of me having to read it.
04:08Because I've always been like a really, really slow reader.
04:10So that was a different experience, you know what I mean?
04:12Because it was the first time actually like using that, which I actually use all the time now.
04:16Er, you should be a voice on it.
04:18Your voice is amazing.
04:19Do you think?
04:20Yeah.
04:21Thank you very much.
04:22A couple years ago I was like a mumbling, stuttering mess but I think I've got better at doing this sort of stuff.
04:27You're great.
04:28Er, obviously like the amazing people attached to it is always a massive draw but like the story itself was just a beautiful, beautiful story about two brothers reconnecting and yeah, I enjoyed it.
04:39So Sam growing up, did he think that he'd be in a film with the Oscar winner, Daniel Day-Lewis, just soak that up.
04:45I think.
04:46I mean, these names are just idols, right?
04:48Yeah, it's a dream come true for any actor, young or old, to work with these sort of people.
04:54But yeah, young Samuel didn't think he'd be in a film at all, to be fair.
04:58So how have we done it?
04:59What's the key?
05:00What's your advice for other young Samuels?
05:02Oh my gosh.
05:03I don't know.
05:04I suppose, I suppose just work hard and keep going at it.
05:08See where it takes you.
05:09And the fact that you've not just got one dad in this, you've got two dads and they're absolutely legends.
05:13I know, yeah.
05:14Was it just really fun working with them?
05:15Oh, it was just like, I think I subconsciously probably picked up so many little things
05:20from working with them.
05:21You know, like, I mean, I only had, I think I had like one scene with Daniel.
05:25And then only a few scenes with Sean.
05:27And most of my stuff was with Samantha Wharton.
05:29But yeah, like, such a, such a luxury to like, go to school with them guys.
05:34You know what I mean?
05:35That's pretty cool, isn't it?
05:37Exactly.
05:38Incredible.
05:39Was there any kind of drinking Guinness off set?
05:40Did you go to the pub?
05:41Did you head into the pub to the wilderness pub?
05:43I didn't.
05:44I did have a Guinness, yes.
05:45I did have a Guinness.
05:46But these guys were filming like in the, in the wilderness.
05:48I got like, um, Cheshire, which I was, I'm happy about it.
05:53Near to home, was it?
05:54Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:55Not too far.
05:56Oh, I love it.
05:57And what happened sex for 2025?
05:58Because I feel like there's no stopping you.
05:59You've done so many amazing things already.
06:00Yeah, just hopefully keep, keep going.
06:01I've got a couple of things coming out this year.
06:04Next year, sorry.
06:05Yeah, probably this year, next year.
06:06I'm not too sure when they're all coming out, actually.
06:08But yeah, just keep plugging away.
06:09Keep auditioning.
06:10And hopefully a new deal with Speechify.
06:12Speechify.
06:13Yeah, yeah, Speechify.
06:14Speechify.
06:15It's easy to say, innit?
06:16How long did it take you to be able to say, Anenomy?
06:19Anenomy.
06:20For the longest time, I was like, people like, what's it called?
06:23I was like, I think it's called Anenomy.
06:26There's like a bit in Finding Nemo, isn't it?
06:28Where they're like, Anenomy.
06:30But now I can say it, Anenomy.
06:31Amazing.
06:32Confidently.
06:33When you got the script and the whole idea pitched to you,
06:35and you saw the names.
06:36Yes.
06:37Did you think, hang on, he doesn't act anymore?
06:39Yeah.
06:40I thought, what?
06:41And honestly, like when the script originally came through,
06:43obviously they co-wrote it, but when the script comes through
06:46the first time, it doesn't always tell you who's writing it,
06:48especially if they have like, they don't want to tell you straight away
06:51sort of thing.
06:52So I kind of came on board and then, well, and then I met Ronan,
06:55and then it was almost like I started to find out that
06:58everybody was attached and who had made it and all of those
07:00things.
07:01And I was suddenly like twiddling my thumbs like, cool.
07:03So in two weeks time, that's where I'm going.
07:06Amazing.
07:07How does the conversation go with your mates?
07:08Because these names are massive.
07:09Yeah.
07:10They're ridiculous names.
07:11Yeah.
07:12Did you just kind of name drop here and there in the pub?
07:14You can't name drop this.
07:16You can't say it.
07:17People think you're either lying or you're mad.
07:19So I was just like, oh, I'm in a film.
07:21It comes out on November 7th.
07:22And they were like, great.
07:23And I was like, oh, this is in it.
07:24And I was like, Daniel Day-Lewis.
07:25And they were like, yeah, sure, sir.
07:27So I'm just excited for the film to come out.
07:29And then they'll see it's true.
07:30I love it.
07:31How do you feel about living in the wild yourself?
07:33How do you cope with it?
07:34What would you want to live with in the woods?
07:36What would you take with you?
07:37Oh my gosh, in the woods?
07:39Waterproofs.
07:40I hate being wet and cold.
07:41Hot water bottles, so I need a kettle.
07:43So I need power.
07:44So I need a house.
07:45And a road and a car.
07:47Yes.
07:48I was thinking maybe like a saxophone.
07:50Saxophone?
07:51You could get better at it.
07:52Oh, wow.
07:53Like a hobby.
07:54And end up playing Twitter at the end of it.
07:55That would be pretty cool.
07:56I don't think I could do saxophone because I'm slightly tone deaf.
07:58But I could maybe like knit?
08:00And knit your own job.
08:02Exactly.
08:03Amazing.
08:04So how do you cope having the most amazing dad ever?
08:07I mean, how cool is that?
08:09Your surname is pretty cool as well.
08:10Yeah, it's pretty cool, yeah.
08:12You can't really go under the radar with the surname Day-Lewis.
08:14No.
08:15So when he was taking that time out, did you just take him to one side and be like,
08:18look dad, I miss you on your screen.
08:20Yeah.
08:21Can we do something together?
08:22What happened?
08:23Yeah, it was actually more like he came up to me and after he had decided to stop acting
08:28for a while, I think his hit, one of the sadnesses he felt about it was that we might
08:32never get the chance to collaborate together because he knew I wanted to make films.
08:35And so it was, yeah, we kind of talked about just generally finding something we could both
08:40get excited about.
08:41And it took us a couple of years, but then it turned out we both were kind of fascinated
08:45with this idea of brotherhood as a kind of a theme.
08:47So that just became the seed for us.
08:49And it was a very gradual process of the script kind of coming together over a few years.
08:54And it didn't really become real until we had almost a full script.
08:57So, but there wasn't really, yeah, that kind of luring out of like retirement or anything.
09:02Out of his lair.
09:03Yeah.
09:04Did you give him some advice in the pep talk to kind of get back in the game?
09:07No, I mean, yeah, no, I didn't definitely didn't give him advice.
09:11I mean, I think, I think that just the fact that we had worked together on it for, for
09:16such a long time, it felt like there was, there was that kind of ease and that trust
09:20there that I think just helped the transition into actually shooting it.
09:23Yeah.
09:24The thing about families and you can kind of talk to them a bit, you know, badly.
09:27Yeah.
09:28Yeah.
09:29Was there a little bit of squabbling on set or like behind the scenes?
09:31No, not really, surprisingly not.
09:32Yeah, no, it was, I think, yeah, like again, having gotten a lot of the kind of more detailed
09:37decisions and conversations out of the way about the character and kind of his world,
09:41it was, it was pretty, we had a pretty good shorthand by the time we got to set.
09:45So not, not a ton had to be said.
09:46And I think it also helped that we were pretty loose about rehearsal.
09:50Like we would kind of work through the next day's scenes every, every night together.
09:53And it, it, we found a good balance point between the kind of visual aspect of it and him
09:58feeling free to kind of claim the space and really move through it.
10:01You'd be like, Dad, can we stop now?
10:02Can we try and watch TV and eat some food and not talk about work?
10:05Yeah.
10:06And did you time it to coincide with Oasis' big comeback as well?
10:09Time what?
10:10Did time it for the big Oasis comeback?
10:12Oh yeah, yeah.
10:13No, that was from the beginning.
10:14That was always, yeah.
10:15Did you manage to see them?
10:16No, sadly.
10:17Did you?
10:18Look at this.
10:19Oh, amazing.
10:20I did see that.
10:21How was it?
10:22It was fantastic.
10:23Is it art or film going forward?
10:24Because you are an artist as well.
10:25Yeah.
10:26What happens next?
10:27I hope both.
10:28Yeah, yeah.
10:29My, my plan is to try to, try to keep doing, doing both as much as possible.
10:32And I, I really see, I see them as kind of two expressions of the same thing.
10:35So, yeah.
10:36Amazing.
10:37If you get your dad another Oscar, does this mean that you kind of got a lot of brownie
10:41points for the fam?
10:42Yeah, I don't know.
10:43We'll see.
10:44Yeah.
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