Well, this is shocking. Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the great actors of this, or any, generation, announced his retirement from the acting world for the simple reason that he wanted to pursue .... dressmaking? His role as a dressmaker, in the upcoming Paul Thomas Anderson film "Phantom Thread," was such a pleasurable bout of method acting that he's decided to pursue it as a trade.
"PageSix has sources confirming that Day-Lewis "strategically planned to align the end of his acting career with the release of his upcoming high fashion movie Phantom Thread (in which he plays a dressmaker) ... He’s so method, it takes him three years to prepare for a role.”
"Insiders noted the 60-year-old went method by seriously studying dressmaking for the role and he loved picking up the new skills so much, becoming a professional dressmaker became his new life calling."
This isn't the first time 60-year-old actor has decided to step away from acting to pick up a new trade. Following 1996's "The Boxer," Day-Lewis took what he called, "a leave of absence" from acting by going into "semi-retirement" and going into woodworking. It was one of the weirder stories to emerge from Hollywood as he was a hot commodity at the time. This newfound passion in shoemaking resulted in him moving to Italy where he embarked on an apprenticeship with shoemaker extraordinaire Stefano Bemer.