Daniel Day-Lewis' return to acting is welcome news – but directing his son could prove difficult | film

SYears ago I recorded my swooning fanboy farewell to Daniel Day-Lewis, who announced his retirement from cinema at the age of 60. Apparently he was just going to do “Phantom Thread” with Paul Thomas Anderson and that would be it.

No. Certainly not. I dared to hope he would change his mind. Now he has dramatically come out of retirement and is making a film called Anemone, which stars Sean Bean and Samantha Morton. It should be great news. It Is great news. And yet, many DDL fans woke up this morning thinking about a strange and disturbing dream they had about Jaden Smith, Will's son. What can it mean?

Day-Lewis' new film is directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis, who has produced a music video and a short film, and father and son co-wrote the script, which is reportedly about the father-son dynamic.

It's high risk. Will Smith and his son Jaden have worked together on films such as The Karate Kid and After Earth and have also collaborated on music projects: the results have been mixed to say the least, although Will did very well in the emotional drama The Pursuit of Happyness. in which Jaden played the lead role. Kurt Russell has worked with his son Wyatt. Tom Hanks worked with his sons Colin and Truman and Clint Eastwood worked with his son Scott. Martin Sheen directed The Way by his son Emilio Estevez, and of course he also worked with son Charlie Sheen. These projects worked out completely plausibly. Sofia Coppola endured Nepo Baby taunts and became one of the most brilliant directors of her generation. Many pundits derided Flag Day, a film about a complex father-daughter relationship directed by Sean Penn and starring Penn and his daughter Dylan. I found it very pleasant myself.

It's pretty clear that working with your kids is one thing – actually being led by them is another. Every great actor of Day-Lewis' caliber must occasionally feel that a young, inexperienced director is making a mistake. He may even be upset about it. What happens if that director is your son? In this case, could the actor subconsciously feel that submitting to the director's point of view is an Oedipal catastrophe? This is really a tricky father-son dynamic.

Day-Lewis has already worked with his loved ones. In 2005, he starred in The Ballad of Jack and Rose, written and directed by his wife Rebecca Miller, in which he played a hardened Scottish environmentalist and American farmer who has a close relationship with his daughter Rose. It was a strange, troubled film in some ways, although Day-Lewis was reliably charismatic. Whether the director was dealing with her own feelings towards her father, Arthur Miller, well, that was a matter of speculation.

Time and time again, Day-Lewis has surprised – and delighted – his audiences. As difficult as it may be, I definitely wouldn't bet against him doing it again. John Huston directed his father Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and it was a glorious classic. I’m already looking forward to “Anemone” by Ronan Day-Lewis.