Awards season is far away, but already critics are predicting five-time Academy Award nominee Daniel Day-Lewis will win the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role as presidential candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Many began to suspect Donald Trump was not a real person but instead a character created by the famously elaborate Day-Lewis as early as the first GOP debate in the summer of 2015. Further evidence accumulated, including Donald Trump’s comments throughout the remaining GOP debates and all three presidential debates in the year and a half since that time.
“There was almost no way that a man of that caliber could be running for president,” said New York Times film critic A.O. Scott. “I began to recognize the classic clues of a Day-Lewis performance: over-dedication to the role, some exaggerations of character flaws or even malicious traits, and a penchant for distinctive voices.”
While Day-Lewis remains committed to his role for the remainder of the election and, reportedly, until the official inauguration of the winner in January, his agent was available for comment about his methods.
“In order to really get into character for this role, Mr. Day-Lewis used some of the tricks he picked up while filming There Will Be Blood and Lincoln,” she said. “We would only be allowed to refer to him on-set as ‘The Donald’ or ‘Mr. Trump’; he would wear self-tanner at all times; and he would shout demeaning insults at random to any and all members of the staff.”
Other sources report that Mr. Day-Lewis spent extensive time with conservative Texans in order to cultivate the appropriate vocabulary for his discourse about the wall he proposed be built along the southern border of the United States. Additionally, it is believed that he watched entire seasons of Survivor and The Bachelor on repeat to develop techniques for causing drama and treating women solely as sexual objects throughout his campaign.
Although film critics are concerned as to the results of a method actor actually winning a presidential election, they praise Day-Lewis for performing what they call “a parody of capitalist, trash-television-obsessed America” that has subsequently undermined the electoral system.
“It’s truly performance art at its finest,” Scott said.
As of press time, sources declined to comment on whether or not Day-Lewis would accept the presidency were he to win, or if he would continue to perform as Donald Trump for the remainder of his term.
