The Eminem song that helped Daniel Day-Lewis get in character for ‘Gangs of New York’
The lengths that Daniel Day-Lewis goes to in order to get in character for a role are notoriously intense. But, when playing a psychopath like Bill the Butcher, as he did in Gangs of New York, how does one get into the appropriate, violently unhinged mindset? Listen to Slim Shady at his angriest.
The stories of Day-Lewis’ method acting are well known at this stage. For My Left Foot he insisted on being transported around the set in his wheelchair, for The Last of the Mohicans he retreated into the woods to learn how to craft canoes and skin animals, and for Lincoln, in which he played Abraham Lincoln, he asked that his colleagues address him as “Mr President.”
For his role for the explosive, violent Bill the Butcher on Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, Day-Lewis stayed in character as much as possible—even when he was off the set. Scorsese himself once explained how that worked, as Rolling Stone reported in 2003.
“I would have him over for dinner while we were shooting,” Scorsese said, “and even though he’d be in modern clothes, it would still be very much like Bill might dress. Off-camera, or on the telephone, I’d always feel like I was talking to Bill, although he also has an override mechanism in which he can talk about the part.”
But in addition to staying in character as much as he could, Day-Lewis also did something decidedly modern for the time: he listened a lot to Eminem, who, at that point, was one the biggest, most controversial stars around. On set, “every morning around five,” Day-Lewis would throw on some Slim Shady, “especially the song ‘The Way I Am.’”
‘The Way I Am’ was a single from The Marshall Mathers LP, released in 2000, and it sees Em rapping about his frustrations and rages regarding the fame he has acquired. He laments that he can’t live a regular life without being harassed by fans, and he does so in his signature, fiery way.
This suited Day-Lewis’ needs down to the ground, so he used to listen to it a lot to help him become Bill. “I’ve admired him for a while,” the actor said of Eminem. “I’m always on the lookout for music that might be helpful to a role.”
He offered a brief explanation as to why he found Eminem’s music so specifically useful. “It bypasses the intellect in a particular way,” he said, which felt like a bit of back-handed compliment. “With this film, I realised I was listening to Eminem more than usual.”
When asked what other artists he had previously listened to to help him get ready for a part, Day-Lewis cited Sinéad O’Connor, Bach and Nirvana, while another rapper got an honorary mention, too. Of Snoop Dogg, Day-Lewis said, “He won’t know who the fuck I am, but I think he’s very cool.”