The best of Daniel Day-Lewis: The Last of the Mohicans

1. Last of the Mohicans
2. Gangs of New York
3. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
4. There Will be Blood
5. The Age of Innocence
6. In the Name of the Father
Here's a rare skill I bet Daniel-day Lewis never knew he had: he's one of the few actors who can play 18th and 19th period Americans. Think about that. De Niro can't. Pacino can't. No amount of method acting could squeeze Brando's bulk into a confederate uniform. But Daniel Day Lewis has cleaned up. Partly its to do with not being a big American star, and therefore not so rooted in contemprary tabloid-cover reality, but it's also down to some inspired guesswork on his part: listen to his accent in Last of the Mohicans, a salad of Indian, Irish and American with some Scots thrown in for good measure. Did anyone ever speak like that? Linguists tell us that American accents back then probably sounded much more exotic than you'd think. It's all down to an actor's taste and cunning and Day Lewis has plenty of both. Why Spielberg has given the role of Lincoln to Liam Neeson can only be guessed at.