'Anemone' trailer released as Daniel Day-Lewis comeback drama sets New York Film Festival premiere

Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to acting after an eight-year retirement, with his first role since Phantom Thread in 2017. The three-time Oscar-winning actor stars in Anemone, a family drama directed and co-written by his son Ronan Day-Lewis.

The film, set in Northern England, follows a middle-aged man played by Sean Bean who leaves his suburban home for a journey into the woods. There, he reconnects with his estranged hermit brother, portrayed by Day-Lewis.

According to the official synopsis, the brothers share a complicated bond rooted in a past shaped by traumatic events decades earlier. The cast also includes Samuel Bottomley, Safia Oakley-Green and Samantha Morton.

Anemone will make its world premiere at the New York Film Festival before Focus Features releases it in limited theatres on October 3, followed by a wider expansion on October 10. The project marks the feature directorial debut of Ronan Day-Lewis.

Day-Lewis’ previous film, Phantom Thread, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, earned him his sixth Academy Award nomination. He has won three Oscars for My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2012).

Over his career, he has also collected BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, establishing his reputation as one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation.

This is not the first time Day-Lewis has returned from retirement. After a hiatus in 1997, during which he trained as a shoemaker in Italy following The Boxer, he resumed acting in 2002 with Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.

With Anemone, his collaboration with his son introduces a new chapter in his career, as fans and critics alike prepare to see Day-Lewis return to the screen in a role shaped by themes of family, memory and reconciliation.