Daniel Day Lewis Film Techniques

Daniel Day-Lewis has been hailed as one of Britain’s greatest actors ever since he lit up the screen In My Beautiful Laundrette twenty-two years ago. Daniel day-Lewis demonstrates his great talent in My Left Foot as Christy brown who suffers from cerebral palsy and in Gangs of New York as Bill “The Butcher” cutting the leader of The Natives.
In My Left Foot, Daniel Day-Lewis is Christy Brown a talented artist and writer who is diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Day-Lewis draws the audience into his world and makes us believe in the character that he portrays. Day-Lewis is capable of showing Christy’s thoughts and feelings using his body language and facial expression to make us feel what a person with cerebral palsy faces every day. Not only does Day-Lewis use his body language but the director Jim Sheridan, uses the manipulation of the camera angles which help Day-Lewis portray Christy as someone that suffers due to his disability. In the film Day-Lewis shows his ability to immerse himself fully as a character Day-Lewis and became Christy and lived the life of only being able to use his left foot.
Day-Lewis plays Bill “The Butcher” Cutting in the film Gangs of New York an evil mean leader of the natives. Day-Lewis gives the audience a shiver as a
In most of the scenes Christy is dressed in a sloppy manner, wearing raggedy old jerseys. The jerseys usually hang to the side with drool dripping from his mouth. Christy’s head is crookedly positioned to exaggerate his medical condition. The director uses camera shots taken from a low angle in order to exaggerate the position. Christy’s mouth is also tilted to add to his character being portrayed. The director uses unsynchronized sound effects to see things through Christy’s perspective and to involve the audience. He does this to create a climax so we anticipate seeing what is about to happen and to emphasize how helpless Christy