An Actor Prepares to Play Lincoln

Daniel Day-Lewis is famous for totally immersing himself in roles, and his Oscar-winning turn as Abraham Lincoln was no exception. After last week's ceremony, Day-Lewis opened up about his process, which reportedly included the following:

◆ He and Sally Field, who portrayed Mary Todd Lincoln, addressed each other only as “Mother” and “Mr. Lincoln,” as the couple did in real life.

◆ He even sent text messages in character.

◆ He built his own log cabin out of rails that he split himself.

◆ Wore a stovepipe hat for a whole year, even to bed and while showering. Made the hat himself from a real stovepipe (even though he was told that stovepipe hats were not made out of stovepipes, they were just called that because of the shape). Made the stovepipe himself, as well as the wrought-iron stove the pipe was attached to. Mined the iron ore by hand and cast it in a foundry, after learning the mining and metalwork trades.

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My Oscar Acceptance Speech

Wow…really? You picked me? I didn’t prepare a speech, ‘cause I never thought I had a chance of winning. Hey, Jack Nicholson! How's it going, Jack? I guess all I want to say is that this statue means nothing to me. I do what I do for the craft and the art and the love of it. Awards are completely meaningless, I’m sorry to tell you. I mean, a hundred years from now, no one is gonna remember who won Best Actor, or have the faintest idea who Clooney and Brad and the other nominees (sorry, I’m forgetting your names) were. OK, maybe you, Jack. In a thousand years, no one will know what a motion picture is, if the human race is even alive. In the post-global-warming wasteland, this hardware will have no value, except maybe as a weapon to club someone over the head with and steal their food.

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