# Ronan Day-Lewis
**Ronan Day-Lewis** is a British-American painter and filmmaker, the son of the actor [Daniel Day-Lewis](https://www.edgepedia.org/daniel-day-lewis) and the filmmaker [Rebecca Miller](https://www.edgepedia.org/rebecca-miller), known for his feature directorial debut *[Anemone](https://www.edgepedia.org/anemone-film)* (2025), a psychological drama he co-wrote with his father and in which his father returned to acting after an eight-year absence.[1](https://apnews.com/article/4b6d1928a593785925ba3d80dabbf667) • [2](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone_announcement) Before the film, he built his career primarily as a visual artist, making paintings, sculpture, short films, and music videos.[3](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone-s-directorial-debut-plus-five-more-first-time-feature-filmmakers) • [4](https://i-d.co/article/ronan-day-lewis-interview-anemone-artist-daniel/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Family | Son of Daniel Day-Lewis and Rebecca Miller; one of two sons of that marriage[1](https://apnews.com/article/4b6d1928a593785925ba3d80dabbf667) |
| Education and art practice | Studied art at Yale; works in painting, sculpture, and short films[3](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone-s-directorial-debut-plus-five-more-first-time-feature-filmmakers) |
| Feature debut | *Anemone* (2025), co-written with Daniel Day-Lewis, produced by Focus Features and Plan B[2](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone_announcement) |
| Release | World premiere at the New York Film Festival on September 28, 2025; limited US release October 3, expansion October 10[5](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-1759251641) • [6](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/focus-features-sets-october-release-date-for-ronan-day-lewis-anemone) |
| Earlier films | Short films *The Sheep and the Wolf* (2018) and *Snow and Sun* (2019)[7](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9068006/) |
| Painting exhibitions | "Anemoia" at Megan Mulrooney, Los Angeles, through November 1, 2025; a solo exhibition scheduled at Nino Mier in Brussels[5](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-1759251641) |
| Reception of *Anemone* | 52% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 147 reviews; about $1.1 million gross in the United States[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/anemone_2025) |
## Background and art practice
Day-Lewis grew up around film sets. As a young child he accompanied his parents on productions including Rebecca Miller's *Angela* and [Paul Thomas Anderson](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-thomas-anderson)'s *There Will Be Blood*, an experience he later described as "intoxicating" and formative for his appetite for filmmaking; Anderson's films became a significant influence on his own work.[9](https://www.avclub.com/ronan-day-lewis-interview-anemone-daniel-day-lewis-magnolia) Time spent on [Prince Edward Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/prince-edward-island) during the filming of *[The Ballad of Jack and Rose](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-ballad-of-jack-and-rose)* (2005) impressed on him what he calls "an interest in landscape as an emotive force," places carrying both the melancholy and the sublime.[5](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-1759251641)
He studied art at Yale and has since produced paintings, sculpture, and short films.[3](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone-s-directorial-debut-plus-five-more-first-time-feature-filmmakers) His paintings are ethereal landscapes built from borrowed snapshots and remembered images; he has described his aim as "projecting human emotion onto landscapes and places," and his subject as "the way the present is constantly being metabolized into the past."[3](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone-s-directorial-debut-plus-five-more-first-time-feature-filmmakers) • [5](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-1759251641) His short film *The Sheep and the Wolf* (2018) won Best Independent Short at the IFS Film Festival, and he directed an album video in 2021 for an EP by the composer David Chalmin.[10](https://dddd.pictures/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Press-Release_The-Friend_Ronan_D-L.pdf) His work has shown widely in the United States, with a debut international solo exhibition opening in Hong Kong in October 2024.[2](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone_announcement)
## Anemone
*Anemone* began in 2020, when Day-Lewis, wanting to write about brothers as one of three siblings, started talking through the idea with his father, who had been mulling over a similar premise after announcing his retirement from acting in 2017 following *Phantom Thread*. The two developed a shorthand and co-wrote the screenplay.[5](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-1759251641) [Focus Features](https://www.edgepedia.org/focus-features) and Plan B announced the project on October 1, 2024, with Daniel Day-Lewis in his first role since 2017, alongside [Sean Bean](https://www.edgepedia.org/sean-bean), Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley, and Safia Oakley-Green, and with [Dede Gardner](https://www.edgepedia.org/dede-gardner) and Jeremy Kleiner producing.[2](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone_announcement)
Set in northern England, the film follows a middle-aged man (Bean) who reconnects with his estranged brother Ray (Daniel Day-Lewis), a hermit living in a remote woodland cabin, and the two unravel the troubling secret that separated them for twenty years.[3](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone-s-directorial-debut-plus-five-more-first-time-feature-filmmakers) • [11](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/anemone-welcome-return-from-daniel-day-lewis) Day-Lewis and his father first conceived it as a mostly silent film in which the landscape carries the emotional weight, filling the spaces between dialogue with storms and bird's-eye views of forest.[5](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-1759251641)
Day-Lewis directed with cinematographer Ben Fordesman, production designer Chris Oddy, and costume designer Jane Petrie.[2](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone_announcement) The landscape functions as an extension of his painting practice: he has said the environment is intended to convey the figures' emotion to the audience, "responding directly to the emotional trajectory of the characters."[5](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-1759251641) The film's visual effects, led by Union VFX, included an apocalyptic hailstorm conceived as an emotional crescendo, and a creature inspired by Day-Lewis's own drawings and sculptures.[12](https://postperspective.com/unions-visual-effects-for-ronan-day-lewis-anemone/) A drunken dance between the brothers, an unscripted moment influenced by [Ingmar Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingmar-bergman)'s *Autumn Sonata*, required the cabin set to be redesigned so one side could be removed for the camera.[13](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2025-11-21/anemone-daniel-day-lewis-ronan-one-shot)
The film premiered at the [New York Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-film-festival) on September 28, 2025, opened in limited US release on October 3, and expanded on October 10; it reached UK cinemas on November 7.[5](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-1759251641) • [6](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/focus-features-sets-october-release-date-for-ronan-day-lewis-anemone) • [11](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/anemone-welcome-return-from-daniel-day-lewis) [Home video](https://www.edgepedia.org/home-video) and digital editions followed through [Universal Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-pictures), with a listed run time of 2 hours 6 minutes and an R rating for language throughout.[14](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/anemone)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 52% Tomatometer from 147 reviews, with a critics consensus crediting Daniel Day-Lewis's magnetism and the debut director's stylistic flair while finding the drama less cohesive; the audience score was 57%.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/anemone_2025) Reviewers repeatedly singled out the visual style, with *Sight and Sound* noting flourishes of magic realism echoing Day-Lewis's artwork and suggesting he "may yet have an intriguing future in the realms of genre," while criticizing the dramatic structure and pacing.[11](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/anemone-welcome-return-from-daniel-day-lewis) Other critics were harsher; *The Independent* called the film a "confusing mess," and a roundup in *The Week* quoted reviews describing it as "aridly pretentious and static" while conceding that the first-time director "shows flashes of talent."[15](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/anemone-daniel-day-lewis-review-son-b2858040.html) • [16](https://theweek.com/culture-life/film/anemone-the-smashing-machine) The film grossed about $1.1 million in the United States.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/anemone_2025)
## References
1. [Daniel Day-Lewis, pulled out of retirement by his son, finds his acting fire still burns, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/4b6d1928a593785925ba3d80dabbf667)
2. [Focus Features & Plan B Partner on Ronan Day-Lewis's Feature Directorial Debut 'Anemone', Focus Features](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone_announcement)
3. [Anemone's Directorial Debut—Plus Five More First-Time Feature Filmmakers, Focus Features](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/anemone-s-directorial-debut-plus-five-more-first-time-feature-filmmakers)
4. [Ronan Day-Lewis Interview on Anemone, Art, and Family, i-D](https://i-d.co/article/ronan-day-lewis-interview-anemone-artist-daniel/)
5. [Ronan Day-Lewis on Directing His Father and Painting from Nostalgia, Artsy](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-1759251641)
6. [Focus Features Sets October Release Date for Ronan Day-Lewis' Anemone, Focus Features](https://www.focusfeatures.com/article/focus-features-sets-october-release-date-for-ronan-day-lewis-anemone)
7. [Ronan Day-Lewis, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9068006/)
8. [Anemone (2025), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/anemone_2025)
9. [Ronan Day-Lewis talks Anemone influences, working with his dad, The A.V. Club](https://www.avclub.com/ronan-day-lewis-interview-anemone-daniel-day-lewis-magnolia)
10. [Press Release: The Friend, Ronan Day-Lewis, dddd.pictures](https://dddd.pictures/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Press-Release_The-Friend_Ronan_D-L.pdf)
11. [Anemone review: Brothers grim, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/anemone-welcome-return-from-daniel-day-lewis)
12. [Union's Visual Effects for Ronan Day-Lewis' Anemone, postPerspective](https://postperspective.com/unions-visual-effects-for-ronan-day-lewis-anemone/)
13. [One Shot: The moment 'Anemone' shakes off its darkest impulses, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2025-11-21/anemone-daniel-day-lewis-ronan-one-shot)
14. [Anemone, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/anemone)
15. [Anemone review – Daniel Day-Lewis's comeback role is a confusing mess, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/anemone-daniel-day-lewis-review-son-b2858040.html)
16. [Film reviews: Anemone and The Smashing Machine, The Week](https://theweek.com/culture-life/film/anemone-the-smashing-machine)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Film and television directors › Directors of Europe › British and Irish directors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license