An amulet is Daniel Day-Lewis’s secret weapon
Daniel Day-Lewis’s «secret weapon» is an amulet that the smiling children from Cerebral Palsy Greece give him. Daphne Economou, who founded the organization and has been its president for many years, and her children are friends of the actor. On February 14, Valentine’s Day, Day-Lewis attended the official premiere of «There Will Be Blood,» directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. By agreement with the producers, Miramax, and the distribution company, Audiovisual, proceeds from the screening went to Cerebral Palsy Greece. That was the wish of Day-Lewis, who plays the leading role in the film. He had come to Greece for the same purpose to premier «The Ballad of Jack and Rose,» written and directed by his wife Rebecca Miller, the daughter of Arthur Miller, and for Martin Scorsese’s film «Gangs of New York,» for which he was also an Oscar nominee. He met the children at Cerebral Palsy Greece on his first trip to Greece, when he was an Oscar contender for his role in «My Left Foot,» in which he played the part of Christy Brown, an Irishman with paraplegia who gained fame when he wrote his life story. «That will bring you luck, with the Oscar,» the children told him as he was leaving. And so it did. Economou related the story at a press conference on Athens on February 14. The following day, Day-Lewis went to Cerebral Palsy Greece’s Open Door center in Argyroupolis, where he dined with the children and was the sole spectator of a performance the children had put on especially for him. Obviously moved by the experience, he had his photograph taken with them on stage, and greeted each child individually. «I’ll be back,» he old them, «as soon as I have a new film. «Don’t forget your good luck charm,» they said, giving him an amulet. «You’ll get the Oscar this time,» they said. «You’ll see.» And again he did, to the delight of the children who saw him win the Oscar for best leading actor at dawn, Greek time, on February 24. Everyone has seen the pictures of the red carpet and the glamor on show for the Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. Here is a record of another golden moment from the great actor, photographed by Evi Emmanuel, during his encounter with the smiling children of Cerebral Palsy Greece. The children have absolute faith in him and look forward to seeing him return with his next film.
