Daniel Day-Lewis is a near-mythic figure in Hollywood, a three-time Oscar-winner as selective about the parts he takes as the interviews he gives, and a method actor notorious for disappearing into characters for weeks or months at a time. He is also, apparently, a big fan of trashy reality TV where naked strangers are forced to survive together in the wilderness.
This is per Day-Lewis’ frequent collaborator, Paul Thomas Anderson, who went on Jimmy Kimmel last night for the ostensible purpose of promoting their latest film together, Phantom Thread, and also, apparently, to totally blow up his old buddy’s spot. “Honestly, for the world’s greatest actor he has the worst taste in television,” Anderson said, explaining that there was a several month period in which Lewis was a religious viewer and advocate for Discovery Channel’s survival reality series Naked And Afraid. “And he’d say, ‘Oh, you’ve got to see Naked And Afraid!’” Anderson told Kimmel. “And each week, he’d tune in.”
Day-Lewis has recently said he’s done with acting, at least in part because Phantom Thread made him so sad that he felt like he couldn’t continue in the craft. Anderson, meanwhile, doesn’t sound entirely convinced, although it’s not clear if this whole “outing him as a fan of trash TV” thing is some sort of elaborate experiment in reverse psychology in order to lure him back.