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Look, we all have our trash TV guilty pleasures. What would any trip to one’s parents’s house be without Storage Wars and Bar Rescue binges? What would the Sunday brunch group talk about if we didn’t have The Bachelor? Apparently, not even Daniel Day-Lewis can resist the charms of reality television, and Paul Thomas Anderson can’t resist publicly roasting him for it.
During a rare talk show appearance Friday, when he stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his new film Phantom Thread, Anderson provided some rare insight into what Day-Lewis is like when he’s not method-acting a 19th century U.S. president or high-end fashion designer.
“Honestly, for the world’s greatest actor he has the worst taste in television,” Anderson said. “He was particularly obsessed a few years ago with Naked and Afraid. Do you remember that show? He would always be like [to me], ‘You’ve got to see Naked and Afraid.‘ Each week he’d tune in.”
“You should see his Tim Gunn impression,” Anderson said. “You should hear Daniel say ‘Designers…’” Perhaps watching Project Runway was one of the ways Day-Lewis got into character for Phantom Thread.
Kimmel also asked whether his retirement is legit: “Was that good or bad, that at the end of your movie he decided he was never going to act again?”
“Yeah, I suppose it suggests either he had such a good time doing it that he didn’t want to bother trying to top the experience,” Anderson said, laughing. “Or the other thing.”
“Is it possible that this is part of his weird sense of humor?” Kimmel asked.
Anderson paused. “Now, that’s good.”
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