THE COMEBACK KID

Daniel Day-Lewis returns to the screen to work with his son Ronan on the film Anemone, eight years after announcing his retirement

- GILL PRINGLE

Daniel Day-Lewis's declaration eight years ago that he would "no longer be working as an actor" seemed to draw a line under a career that won him three Academy Awards and four Baftas. It was his son Ronan, 27, who persuaded his father to return in Anemone, the younger Day-Lewis's debut feature as a director. How did he do it?

Daniel, 68, who co-wrote the film, admits that he was motivated by a fear of missing out.

“We've worked on a lot of strange things over the years together, since he was a kid, and I had an anticipatory regret at the thought that Ronan was going to make films and I wouldn't be a part of them,” he says, putting aside his public awkwardness in order to support his son.

Ronan admits that he had reservations about directing his father but was anxious not to miss the chance to work with him.

“I wasn’t sure that this should be my introduction to feature-length film-making, with all the obvious baggage. My dad had not been working as an actor for a while and wasn’t planning at that time to go back to it.