Gangs of New York star Daniel Day-Lewis turned to Eminem to get into the head of his character, Bill The Butcher.

Daniel Day-Lewis is used to using music to get inside the heads of he characters that he is playing.

For his role in Gangs of New York, he turned to Eminem to get into the head of Bill The Butcher.
Day-Lewis will be exiting his retirement to star in his son’s film, which will also feature Sean Bean.

Actors have very unique ways of working themselves into a role, which often requires some inspired tricks from them. There have been tons of stories about how actors prepare for roles and stay in character, including the one about Danial Day-Lewis’ time on Gangs of New York.

Daniel Day-Lewis in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York || Credit: Miramax

The actor decided to listen to some of Eminem’s music in preparation for his role in Gangs of New York. The actor had a specific reason for listening to the rapper’s music, which he explained to Rolling Stone in an interview.

Daniel Day-Lewis listened to a lot of Eminem in preparation for Gangs of New York

Speaking with Rolling Stones, Daniel Day-Lewis talked about the way he prepared for the role of Bill the Butcher. The actor, among other things, decided to listen to Eminmen, with one song in particular easing him into his role as the the political leader. He said:

Yes, every morning around five, especially the song “The Way I Am.” I’ve admired him for a while. I’m always on the lookout for music that might be helpful to a role. It bypasses the intellect in a particular way. With this film, I realized I was listening to Eminem more than usual.

Billy the Butcher in Gangs of New York definitely has the vibe of Eminem’s The Way I Am. Day-Lewis also intimated to the magazine that music is actually an important part of his preparation process for roles, name-dropping the likes of Bach, Snoop Dogg, and Nirvana.

Daniel Day-Lewis is ending his acting retirement for his son’s film

Daniel Day-Lewis in Phantom Thread || Credit: Universal Pictures

Ever since the release of Phantom Thread in 2017, Daniel Day-Lewis has been largely absent from the film scene. However, his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, seems to have pulled the actor back into the game. Anemone, a film that will star the older Lewis, Sean Bean, and Samantha Lewis, was announced yesterday. The film has the fingerprints of the elder and the younger Day-Lewis, being co-written.

Daniel Day-Lewis has delivered some of the most stunning performances in film in the last few years of his current acting career. The actor has managed to work with a lot of his inspirations in the roles that he plays, drawing inspiration from the music that he can see a character fitting with, leading to him including some of music’s big names in his preparation process.

Gangs of New York can be streamed on Max.