Best Actor 2002: Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York

Daniel Day-Lewis received his third Oscar nomination for portraying Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York.

Gangs of New York depicts a revenge story as well as the criminal life of Five Points in New York City during the Civil War.

Daniel Day-Lewis plays the villainous Bill, who has everything a villain needs, a fitting name, with a nick name, fairly well dressed in his own way, or at least very particularly dressed, a glass eye, an arsenal of sharp knives, with a fitting profession, as well as a distinct accent and voice, but one should not forget his mustache, which makes him look like the type of guy who ties damsels in distress to a train track.There really is no bones about it he is a villain to be a villain, and that is the way Day-Lewis portrays it.This is befitting to the man that wishes himself to become "king" of the five points district in New York as the film opens, and is, after the opening sequence. This opening sequence being one of the great character introductions of 2000 through the sheer bravado of Day-Lewis. A performance that makes Liam Neeson, a typically noted intense actor, seem nearly passive by comparison. Day-Lewis offering the right control in every step, and those eyes deeply piercing as though he is looking right into the heart he intends to stab in his enemy the priest, the one keeping him from total domination. Day-Lewis whole performance is that of a palatable menace on near sight, but made all the more notable in Day-Lewis ease in portraying this. Of course, one might almost forget that this was a new place for Day-Lewis, who of course gave transformative performances, but didn't carry his cinematic intensity in this way before. This in creating just the sheer force of a personality that inspires fear upon sight alone.

Day-Lewis performance though must be said is one that really again shows his greatness as an actor, but when isn't this the case? Rarely if ever, but so notable in the way he crafts period in performance in a way no actor really quite does in the way he does. Day-Lewis embodies the period in himself. This from the perfection of his accent that is New York, but an ancient New York. An accent that frankly could sound ridiculous but he so owns it, while also so consistently realizes it that it is an essential part of the man. More so though it just shows Day-Lewis's command over the part. Day-Lewis crafts this distinctly towards the period and a man of it. This as his performance in particular grants a sense of his Bill existing even beyond the revenge story he is set as the villain within. If the film had sought to be a more normalized period piece it is obvious Day-Lewis would have been game for that. This as he is as convincing here as he was a more erudite New Yorker in The Age of Innocence, or as the man Bill so often derides of the same period Abraham Lincoln. Day-Lewis simply is Bill here and the question then becomes what can he express with this creation within the film. His manner that of a man with just enough finery on top of just a feral brute. This in even the way he walks holds with it a duality of an attempt at grace, though with such a stilted yet intense nature as though he's just barely holding together his vicious rage. Well a lot of what he is tasked to express is to be the maniacal villain to be defeated by our hero Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio) to avenge the priest Bill killed in the opening, Amsterdam's father. 

This is as Day-Lewis makes for a properly grand villain. This in carrying that aforementioned menace but his work goes further than that. Day-Lewis offers an essential spark within the film that is left hollow by DiCaprio's particularly underwhelming performance. This is to the point that one ponders if the Bill the Butcher actor would've ever been campaigned lead if the actor as Amsterdam was more dynamic or if Bill was less well performed. This is as Day-Lewis is actually in less than a third of the film, but what he does is make the greatest of impressions every second he is onscreen. Day-Lewis delivering on an incredible charisma in the part. This not just as the commanding force to be reckoned with but so much further. This in as we see the man run his own organization with a careful and smooth ability. Day-Lewis brings a genuine charm there within that sheer power of personality. Day-Lewis with though showing the way his charisma is almost his way of brow beating others. This in his, fittingly, cutting delivery of his put downs or jokes at the expense of others. This even as Bill greets himself to some upper crust New Yorkers, Day-Lewis offers a genuine charm in each greeting. He goes further though in how in his little glances after each one that even this method is an attack in a way. Day-Lewis creating a man created by his personal war and attempt for constant dominance. This in almost no single thing does he seem to falter in an attempt to hold his constant sway within his personal little kingdom.

Now in part Day-Lewis does create a reality within the villainy, more in what might be his most remarkable work in the part that I'll get to in a moment. This though more specifically in the scene where Bill is teaching Amsterdam how to butcher, but more so how to kill. In the act Day-Lewis offers in each stab the intensity of a man fighting his whole life. This with a sense of drive and determination in each utterance of which stabs are a "kill". Day-Lewis though with that offers a very entertaining performance. Although this is notable in that Day-Lewis actually does keep to these scenes whenever Bill is strictly playing to crowd as he would, although in turn he's playing to every audience member as well. This as Day-Lewis effectively mounts the crowd within his performance. He is Bill should be, but it must be noted that he is just fun to watch. This in particular in his scene of thwarting Amsterdam's initial assassination attempt of him. The whole scene Day-Lewis is a master of it, being even hilarious as he destroys his former mistress's locket with a "whoopsie daisy" spoken with such shamelessness. This however with his defeat of Amsterdam played with every ounce to crowd just as his eyes show his own hatred in the moment. Day-Lewis portraying both the man playing to the crowd while also very much taking the personal pleasure within the moment.

Day-Lewis knows how to brandish the broader qualities befitting the role, but as usual there is nuance within his work even beyond how much he gets out of the general ideas of villainy. This even within the ending of the battle, where Day-Lewis's expression while showing the sanctification of defeating his foe, his eyes granting a sense almost remorse, but more than anything respect to his defeated foe. This idea though furthered in Day-Lewis's quietest and perhaps best scene where he speaks to pre-assassination Amsterdam through the night. It is hard to say that Day-Lewis vulnerable as even in the scene Day-Lewis's glare could make most men cower. Day-Lewis though in the scene though creates within that glare though the faintest hints of a desperation as he explains his age and how he has only lived through the fear of others towards him. This as he continues explain his respect for the old priest. Day-Lewis conjures the entire relationship within his performance. This speaking with a reflection of near sadness towards his injury and in his own work fear in his hesitated breath. It is an amazing scene as Day-Lewis shows us a man expressing his greatest weaknesses, though still within a man who can never do that fully, and in most circumstances would never even allow the minor degree of defenses he does here. I will say looking at this performance is strange, as the film itself I find to be one of the purest examples of the term of being "less than the sum of its parts". This as Day-Lewis is an absolute brilliant part of it a masterful part, worthy of a masterpiece, which can also be found within the film's technical elements, particularly its production design and some individual moments of directing by Martin Scorsese. His work is brilliant on its own, however within this film it seems of even greater stature when compared to DiCaprio in one of his worst turns or Cameron Diaz who seems wholly out of place within the period piece. Day-Lewis on the other hand exists within the crafted world of the civil war era New York, while crafting a dynamic and in-depth portrait of both villainy and a man crafted from the period. Although in some ways a given it seems at times, Day-Lewis delivers an outstanding performance even if there is a certain frustration that the entire film isn't at his level.