Flashback: My Left Foot (1989) – Daniel Day-Lewis’ Oscar-winning role as Irish artist Christy Brown
Daniel Day-Lewis’ empathetic, gritty turn as disabled artist Christy Brown meant staying in character for the entire shoot
The greatness of 1989’s My Left Foot, a biopic about Irish artist Christy Brown, is due predominantly to the acting. Daniel Day-Lewis is not only physically convincing as a sufferer of cerebral palsy – Brown found it difficult to speak, and could move only his left foot – he brings empathy and grit to an exacting role.
Well-rounded supporting performances by Brenda Fricker, as his ever-loving mother, and Ray McAnally, as his tough but proud father, expand what would otherwise be a claustrophobic drama, loosely based on Brown’s eponymous autobiography from 1954. Day-Lewis and Fricker won Oscars in 1990 for their work.
Brown was born into a large working-class family in a poor area of Dublin. Although afflicted with cerebral palsy, his parents elected to raise him themselves, rather than send him to an institution.
His inability to communicate means that the young Christy is not credited with any intelligence, until he begins to chalk words on the floor with his left foot.