Daniel Day-Lewis has come out of retirement, but what is Anemone?

Daniel Day-Lewis is coming out of retirement for his first film in seven years, originally teased as Avelyn but later confirmed to be titled Anemone.

The prolific actor known for There Will Be Blood and Gangs of New York stepped away from the spotlight in 2017 after he starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Phantom Thread. Previously believed to be his final role, his performance as an obsessive tailor earned the triple-Oscar winner his sixth Best Actor nomination.

But now it seems Day-Lewis is ready to return to showbusiness, and for a special reason too. Here is everything that we know so far.

What is Daniel Day-Lewis' new film Anemone?

Anemone is directed by Day-Lewis' son Ronan, who is making his feature film debut with the independent project. It is described as a film about the relationship between sons, fathers, and brothers, and it was co-written by Day-Lewis and his son.

In a statement, Focus Features Chairman, Peter Kujawski said: "We could not be more excited to partner with a brilliant visual artist in Ronan Day-Lewis on his first feature film alongside Daniel Day-Lewis as his creative collaborator. They have written a truly exceptional script, and we look forward to bringing their shared vision to audiences alongside the team at Plan B."

While little else is known about Anemone, Day-Lewis is joined in the film by Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley and Safia Oakley-Green.

The actor was originally spotted filming in Manchester in pictures shared by MailOnline, when it was believed the project was called Avelyn. Visitors to the set remarked that filming appeared to be for an advert, but it has since been confirmed that it is for Anemone.

Why did Daniel Day-Lewis retire?

Few actors have had as iconic a career as Day-Lewis, whose work in films like My Left Foot, The Last of the Mohicans, and In The Name of the Father has gained him huge critical acclaim. He has worked with the greats of the industry too, from Martin Scorsese to Spielberg, to Thomas Anderson.

Prior to the release of The Phantom Thread Day-Lewis —then 60— announced his decision to retire from acting, which he said in a statement was "a private decision" and that he was "immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years."

In 2017, Day-Lewis reflected on his decision to finally step back from acting and told W Magazine: "All my life, I've mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don't know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do."

The four-time BAFTA winner has taken breaks on multiple occasions during his career, once travelling to Florence, Italy, in the 1990s to work as an apprentice shoemaker.

Day-Lewis is known for his dedication to the craft, he would embody the character he was playing by living as them in his everyday life whether that was as Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Plainview, or Bill the Butcher. He has famously done extreme things to get into character, from hunting his own food in The Last of the Mohicans to spending time in solitary confinement in an abandoned prison for My Left Foot.

Read more: The craziest ways Daniel Day-Lewis prepared for acting roles

But this approach to method acting took its toll on the actor, as he has previously explained it was a technique that left him feeling depleted afterwards.

In an interview with Charlie Rose in 2002, the actor explained: "In an essence you're giving up, you're scooping yourself out from all that stuff you try to gorge yourself on beforehand and at the end of it you feel tremendously depleted and the only analogy I've found that seemed to vaguely fit for me was the idea of leaving a field lying fallow because you just can't grow anything in it anymore.

"And I think it is as much that as anything else, even from quite early on... I was given this gift, this tiny piece of self knowledge, that told me I couldn't just keep doing that thing, if I were going to keep doing it for a period of time, then I would have to stay away from it as well. I don't know why."

It's not just in film that he has needed to take breaks because of his unique approach to acting, in 1989 Day-Lewis portrayed Hamlet at the National Theatre and quit mid-performance after metaphorically seeing his own father's ghost onstage — he has never appeared on stage since.

While method acting takes its toll, there was also pleasure in crafting a performance for the actor he told Charlie Rose: "I think for most people the thing that gives most joy is learning about something, it's satisfying a curiosity, that's where most real pleasure comes from. The greater part of that discovery takes place before you start to shoot the film, in the course of it you start to make new discoveries but it's more of a visceral pleasure because it's taking you moment by moment and it's surprising you, and you're much less in control of what's happening."

In a 2007 interview with Charlie Rose, Day-Lewis continued to mirror this sentiment as he said of method acting: "You're never that far away from absurdity, and maybe the more as you grow older the more aware you are of that absurdity and therefore you have to take your work that much more seriously."

The actor certainly knew how to poke fun at his method acting approach. When he won Best Actor for Lincoln he joked that he was set to play Margaret Thatcher before Meryl Streep —who was presenting the award— was cast in The Iron Lady, he also thanked his wife Rebecca for being supportive of his work as it meant she "lived with some very strange men" over the years.

But having a private life away from these roles has also always been important to him, and speaking to the Observer in 2008 the actor said: "It is misleading to see my life in front of the camera and my life at home with my wife and children as two lives between which there is a schism.

"My life as it is away from the movie set is a life where I follow my curiosity just as avidly as when I am working. It is with a very positive sense that I keep away from the work for a while. It has always seemed natural to me that that, in turn, should help me in the work that I do.”

It seems then that a break was needed for the actor before he could consider any possibility of a return, whether this comeback is a one-and-done deal for his son is unclear but it seems that familiar sense of curiosity is what drew him back to the world of acting. We are lucky that he has done so, because no doubt it'll be another memorable role.