Daniel Day-Lewis Returns in Haunting First Trailer for Anemone

Focus Features has dropped the long-awaited first trailer for Anemone, marking the legendary return of Daniel Day-Lewis to the screen after an eight-year hiatus. And if the emotionally charged preview is anything to go by, the three-time Oscar winner hasn’t missed a beat.

Directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, Anemone is a stark, emotionally layered family drama about two brothers haunted by a shared past of political unrest, personal betrayal, and silent suffering. The film is set to release on October 3rd, 2025, and already looks like an early frontrunner for awards season.

Set against the misty moors and dense forests of Northern England, the film follows Sean Bean as a middle-aged man who leaves behind his modest suburban life to track down his estranged brother—played by Daniel Day-Lewis, who lives as a reclusive hermit in the woods.

What unfolds is a taut, meditative exploration of grief, masculinity, trauma, and forgiveness, as long-buried secrets bubble to the surface. Samantha Morton adds further dramatic weight to the story, reportedly playing a woman pivotal to the brothers’ fractured relationship and the haunting tragedy at the heart of their shared history.

Notably, Anemone is co-written by Ronan and Daniel Day-Lewis, marking a rare creative partnership between father and son. With Ben Fordesman (Saint Maud, God’s Creatures) behind the camera, the cinematography already looks breathtaking—moody, intimate, and evocative of the internal landscapes the characters traverse.

The trailer offers a first glimpse into this emotionally bruising world—silent tension, weather-worn faces, a lone piano score, and one soul-piercing line from Day-Lewis that already hints at another towering performance: “There’s no peace in forgetting… only silence.”

After retiring in 2017 following Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis returns not in a grand epic but a deeply human, inward-looking tale of familial collapse and reckoning. Anemone doesn’t scream—it simmers, and that might be what makes it so devastating.

Prepare for a cinematic gut-punch this fall.