It’s been eight years since Daniel Day-Lewis last set foot on a film set. Eight years of silence, mystery, and the kind of mythmaking that only Day-Lewis seems capable of sustaining. Now he’s back—unexpectedly, ferociously—in Anemone, a bruised family drama directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. Focus Features has unveiled the first official trailer, and it’s already stirring the kind of gooseflesh you don’t shake off easily.
Premiering in the Spotlight section at the 2025 New York Film Festival, Anemone sidesteps the usual awards-season circuit (no Venice, no Telluride, no TIFF) and carves its own path. From there, it lands in select U.S. theaters on October 3, 2025, making it one of the fall’s most intriguing releases.
The trailer’s hook is simple, almost cruel: “I can’t help you… till you tell me what happened.” That line slices open the whole film. A middle-aged man (Sean Bean) leaves his suburban cocoon and journeys into the woods, seeking out his estranged hermit brother—played with grave intensity by Daniel Day-Lewis. Their history? Complicated. Their bond? Broken but strangely magnetic. Their conversations carry the weight of decades of silence, regret, and something unspoken that feels darker than family drama usually dares to go.
This is not just a father-son collaboration—it’s a creative exorcism. Ronan Day-Lewis co-wrote the script with his father, stepping into feature filmmaking after a string of shorts. That partnership alone feels charged: a son directing his father, perhaps rewriting the boundaries between generational burden and artistic inheritance. The result, at least from this first footage, looks startlingly self-assured. The cinematography by Ben Fordesman (Saint Maud) is earthy yet spectral, framing the woods not as escape but as entrapment. Gorgeous. Grating. Gorgeous again.
Sean Bean, often typecast as the tragic warrior, plays against type here. His suburban man seems fragile, undone by ghosts he doesn’t want to name. Samantha Morton rounds out the cast, grounding the story with her unshakable presence—though in this trailer she’s more shadow than substance, a promise of devastation to come.
It’s worth noting the festival description doesn’t mince words: Anemone is “about lives undone by seemingly irreconcilable legacies of political and personal violence.” That’s a mouthful, but you feel it in the footage—faces lined with resentment, gestures edged with violence. This isn’t a glossy prestige drama. It’s raw, close to the bone.
Day-Lewis’s reemergence feels almost unreal. Watching him on screen again, older and weathered, you realize how much cinema has missed his gravity. His silences are louder than dialogue, his stillness more violent than action. The man retired and left us starving. Now, suddenly, he’s feeding us again.
What Stands Out About Anemone
Day-Lewis Returns at 68
The three-time Oscar winner hasn’t acted since 2017’s Phantom Thread. His comeback alone makes this unmissable.
A Family Collaboration
Directed by Ronan Day-Lewis, with a script co-written by father and son, the film blurs personal and creative legacies.
NYFF World Premiere
Skipping Venice, Telluride, and TIFF, the film instead premieres September 2025 at the New York Film Festival’s Spotlight section.
October 3 Release
Focus Features opens Anemone in select U.S. theaters on October 3, 2025—prime fall awards-season territory.
Cinematic Texture
Cinematographer Ben Fordesman crafts a look that feels both naturalistic and spectral, making the woods themselves a character.
