Daniel Day-Lewis wins an EW.com Award

Daniel Day-Lewis wins an EW.com Award

FOR ”Gangs of New York”

WHY? After 1997’s ”The Boxer,” Daniel Day-Lewis ditched Hollywood, muttering about wanting to be a shoemaker and a good father or some other annoyingly un-Hollywood claptrap. Left in the lurch were film junkies who couldn’t get enough of his searing performances in ”My Left Foot” and ”In the Name of the Father.” With ”Gangs of New York,” we get a big juicy bite of Day-Lewis at his most ambitious: He masters a bizarre 19th-century New York accent, the art of butchering (men and meat), and definitely holds his own against a mussed-up Leonardo DiCaprio. Some spoilsports have called his larger-than-life performance camp, but would you expect anything less from a guy called Bill the Butcher? Let’s just hope he doesn’t run away again.

(Golden Globe nomination: Actor in a Leading Role — Drama)