Daniel Day-Lewis Loves the Shoes
Manolo says, it is no secret that there are only two actors who are truly qualified to play the Manolo in the film version of Super Fantastic. The first is the master thespian, David Hasselhoff, for the most obvious reasons. The second is Daniel Day-Lewis, who is the kindred spirit of the Manolo, for it is true, he loves the shoes!
“I feel as if the periods when I’m not working are very closely related to the periods when I am working. There is no division between those two lives,” [Daniel Day-Lewis] said. “And I feel misrepresented because I keep quiet when I’m not working, (and) on the occasions when I once again step into a public arena, some people tend to see that there’s almost a kind of bipolar existence going on. But of course for me they’re both essential to each other.”
How he spends his off time isn’t something he likes to share: “I’m always a little reluctant to talk about that, and maybe that’s how I manage to create the apparent rift between one world and the other.”
A father of two with his wife, screenwriter-director Rebecca Miller, Day-Lewis does reveal that he “loves motorbikes,” enjoys woodworking and has “a fascination for shoes, for the construction of shoes, which is a very complex and beautiful process.” (He famously took time off to work as a cobbler in Florence, Italy, before taking on the wonderfully villainous part of Bill the Butcher in “Gangs of New York.”)
Obviously, the Daniel Day-Lewis is possessed of the deep, deep soul.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:47 am
Manolo - I went to a shoe school in Washington State a couple of years ago and spent a week learning all about fitting and making shoes and came home with a pair that actually fit me. If Daniel Day-Lewis likes making shoes, then he is someone who is great with details, likes to do concrete things, and can focus very hard on a task for great periods of time. Going to that workshop was a great experience — over the years, I’ve made many things, out of lots of different materials, but had never worked with leather. The smells in that workshop alone were enough to make you swoon. And we will not discuss the equipment - the sewing machines and the presses, and the grinders — for anyone who actually liked “shop” in high school, it is heaven. But going there gave me a real appreciation for what it takes to make good and beautiful shoes - and the ability to tell anyone who complains about the price of good shoes — “You have no idea how hard it is to make a shoe that fits well, feels good, and looks good too. Looks good is the easy part - it’s the engineering of fitting a human being’s foot that costs a lot.”
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I’m sending my husband to shoe school.
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Shoe school- you are so lucky!
I watched a special on TLC in which Stacy London got to tour the Ferragamo shoe factory in Italy, and helped them make her a pair of Ferragamo shoes. It was so interesting watching the process. I’d love to be able to take a workshop like that, just for the experience of crafting something that could be so practical and beautiful.