EXCLUSIVE: Daniel Day-Lewis' Nepo Baby Son Trolled as 'Useless Copycat Filmmaker' After Trailer is Released for His Short Film That 'Forced' His A-List Dad Out of Retirement
Daniel Day-Lewis’ son was slammed as a copycat filmmaker after releasing a short film trailer that allegedly drove his dad out of retirement.
Aug. 26 2025, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
Daniel Day-Lewis is back – coming out of retirement to co-write and star in Anemone, the directorial debut of his son, Ronan Day-Lewis – and provoking fresh outrage in the process over Hollywood's nepo babies takeover, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The 68-year-old three-time Oscar winner agreed to act again alongside Ronan, 27, in the gritty drama Anemone, which has premiered its first trailer.
The film is billed as an exploration of "the complex and profound ties that exist between brothers, fathers and sons" and is produced by Plan B and Focus Features.
It will debut at the New York Film Festival this autumn, before a limited U.S. theatrical release beginning October 3 and expanding on October 10.
The Same Type Of Role For Daniel?
Daniel has returned from retirement to star in 'Anemone.'
Anemone is set in late-1980s Yorkshire and focuses on Ray Stoker – played by Daniel – living as a hermit in the woods, who is visited by his estranged brother, Jem (played by Sean Bean), uncovering a shared past shaped by violence and secrecy.
The film also stars Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley, and Safia Oakley-Green, and features cinematography by Ben Fordesman.
A source told us: "The trailer has been ridiculed, with fans saying it looks as if the film is just a mash-up of all Daniel's former roles, from There Will Be Blood to Gangs of New York. He plays a lonely, tortured character – like he usually does – and he looks insane, which he also usually does. The whole thing seems like an unoriginal rip-off, nowhere near on a par with his Oscar-winning work."
As a result, fan forums and social media are being flooded with attacks on Ronan, with one critic branding him the "ultimate pathetic nepo baby."
Another sighed: "Just another kid cashing in on their parents' fame."
A Nepo Baby?
The actor co-wrote the film with his son, Ronan Day-Lewis.
British entertainment columnist Barbara Ellen has also weighed in.
She said: "There it parps, the nepo-klaxon" as she pointed to the sentimental tug of a parent-child collaboration – calling Day-Lewis' casting "a big 'dad' move" by the actor to support Ronan's directorial debut.
Ellen added: "I'm not dismissing Ronan, a Yale art graduate. I loved the 2009 film Moon, by David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones. Nevertheless, Ronan would have been unlikely to get this opportunity without his connections.
"A big 'dad' move from Daniel, too: the instinct to help his child seemingly propelled him out of retirement. I've long thought that nepotism is more about parents – saying a weak yes instead of a strong no – but is it yet more layered? In this increasingly volatile debate, the nepo parent is usually framed as conniving, entitled, and intrinsically powerful."
She added: "Viewing them as compelled, overwhelmed, even helpless when it comes to their children, recalibrates the image. Which is also true for those without connections and advantages, but the impulse is the same.
"Seemingly, very few – even Daniel Day-Lewis – can perhaps withstand it."
'Anemone' explores the complex ties between fathers, sons and brothers.
The film's production – beginning in October 2024 in Manchester and Chester – was marked by an amusing real-world hiccup when period vehicles used as props received parking tickets from local wardens.
Anemone marks a remarkable shift for both Day-Lewis generations – Daniel stepping back from a private life post-Phantom Thread (2017) to co-author a deeply personal cinematic project, and Ronan is transitioning from painter and short-film maker.
In one scene in the trailer, Bean's character asks Daniel: "I can't help you till you tell me what happened."
The tone is brooding, atmospheric, and weighty, and suggests the pair went through hell as soldiers during Northern Ireland's Troubles.
It's been eight years since Daniel retired with his "final" film, Phantom Thread.
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The film will premiere at the New York Film Festival this autumn.
A synopsis of the film reads: "An absorbing family drama about lives undone by seemingly irreconcilable legacies of political and personal violence.
"Bonded by a mysterious, complicated past, the men share a fraught, if occasionally tender relationship – one that was forever altered by shattering events decades earlier."
Anemone will premiere at the New York Film Festival this autumn and be released in UK cinemas on November 7, 2025.
