Daniel Day-Lewis Spent a Year Interning With New York City Ballet for His Latest Movie

January 4, 2018

New York City Ballet is no stranger to big-name collaborations in their wardrobe department. Costumes designed by high-fashion’s most celebrated like Valentino, Carolina Herrera and Stella McCartney have all made their way to the stage. But we’ve just learned that in 2016, it was actor Daniel Day-Lewis who set up shop in the NYCB sewing room.

Preparing for his role in the just-released film Phantom Thread, according to the The New York Post, Day-Lewis spent a year interning with Marc Happel, NYCB’s director of costumes. “In the beginning, I think people were a little surprised to see him sitting at the sewing machine or walking in the door,” Happel told The New York Post. “But he moved in quite easily and became quite friendly with the entire shop.”

In the film, Day-Lewis plays a fictional 1950s London couturier. And to really master the character, he put in the work. Happel shared that they started off slowly by learning to pin fabric, before moving on to learn how to correctly cut cloth, drape, sew and measure fabric. Day-Lewis’ costuming skills can not only be seen on the big screen in Phantom Thread, but they were also showcased on stage, as Day-Lewis helped hand embroider costumes for Firebird. Sounds like a pretty successful internship.