Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln's Thursday News and Views

Daniel Day-Lewis is taking his role as Abraham Lincoln a little too seriously. But, then again, that’s exactly what Daniel Day-Lewis is known for. The British actor trained for 18 months for The Boxer with world champion Barry McGuigan. Afterwards, McGuigan said he could’ve easily been a professional boxer, instead of playing one on the screen. For The Last of the Mohicans, Day-Lewis lived in the wild for six months where he learned to camp, hunt, fish and skin animals. He even carried a long rifle at all times during filming to remain in character. And for what I believe is his best role, “Bill The Butcher,” Daniel Day-Lewis took an apprenticeship as an actual butcher and constantly sharpened knives on set. He was diagnosed with pneumonia during shooting because he refused to wear warmer, modern coats because “they didn’t exist in the 19th century.”

But despite all the borderline crazy “method acting” he has done throughout his incredible career, none of the roles compare to what we should expect to see in Lincoln. There are numerous reports from the set of the Spielberg-directed movie that Day-Lewis has completely embodied the look, the mindset and the life of the 16th President of the United States. Just look at that picture. It’s so creepy and it does’t even scratch the surface of how the actor has transformed himself into Abraham Lincoln. Spielberg told Entertainment Weekly that his star actor even captures the qualities that made Lincoln a great leader. “Lincoln had a very, very complicated — and at the same time, extremely clear – inner life,” the director said. “He thought things out. He talked things out. He argued both sides of every issue. And he was very careful in making any decision. As a matter of fact, his opponents and his enemies criticized him often for being impossibly slow to a decision.”

Day-Lewis has even shut himself out from anything going on in the modern world. If it’s from the 21st century, or even the 20th, Day-Lewis has tuned it out. He has been living his life as if it’s the 1860s. On top of that, his fellow cast and crew members refer to him as Mr. President on and off set. Spielberg does too.

It sounds like Daniel Day-Lewis has completely lost his mind while fully immersing himself into the character of Abraham Lincoln. But as crazy as it all may sound, I’m sure it’s going to be a hell of a movie when it’s released November 9th. I’m excited, although that picture really, really creeps me out.

News and views…

 

 Nerlens Noel is academically eligible for the 2012-13 season. High-five. Noel told CBSSports.com that UK chief compliance officer Sandy Bell woke him up with a phone call Wednesday morning to give him the good news. “She told me I was good to go,” he said. Noel needed two Bs in his summer classes at Everett to make it official and he pulled it off by doing what he called the hardest studying he’s ever done in his life. He said, “I knew I did it, but I was still nervous waiting on the official word.”

High-five again.

 Noel is also a hot topic of discussion on the internet for not being as good as Anthony Davis, which is ridiculous. Of course he’s not Anthony Davis. There won’t be another Anthony Davis for a long time. But ESPN’s Chad Ford is the latest expert to come out and say Kentucky fans shouldn’t count on Noel to have a season similar to this year’s No. 1 draft pick. Ford said, “We’re probably going to see a season closer to Andre Drummond’s than Anthony Davis.”

How ’bout we see a season of Nerlens Noel???

That’s the season he plans on having. Noel told HoopsWorld that he will play his own game at Kentucky. “There’s some pressure,” he admitted at the adidas Nations event. “But I believe I’ll definitely go in the gym everyday, play my own game, no matter what.”

#LetNerlensBeNerlens

 Kentucky football practiced for almost three hours in temperatures above 90 degrees on Wednesday but the big story from the day is how practice ended. As the boys were wrapping things up and calling it a day, an ice cream truck pulled onto the playing field, blasting a catchy ice cream tune.

“When you were little and the ice cream truck comes and you hear that bell, you lose your mind and I wanted our guys to lose their mind for a split-second,” Joker Phillips joked. “They’re working really hard in extreme heat and just thought we’d throw ‘em a bone today.”

Senior center Matt Smith was one of the guys leading the mad dash to the truck. “If they put an ice cream truck at the end of a 40 yard dash, I’d run it in 2 seconds,” he said.

ICE CREAM!!!

 Bomb pops, Choco-tacos and sundae cones weren’t the only story from UK’s first practice in full pads; they played football too. And Joker was impressed.

“Really good practice,” Phillips said. “Really excited about this running back depth and competition. You make yourself better by additions and player development. Obviously, our running backs have improved in the offseason and we have good additions, who are bringing depth and competition.”

However, it is still too early in camp to tell who will emerge as the starter.

“They’re all wadded up right now,” Phillips said. “CoShik (Williams) finished the season as the No. 1 guy, so he’s the first guy going in. The thing I’m most proud of is their attitude, especially CoShik, Jon-Jon (Jonathan George) and Raymond (Sanders). Those guys are taking a lot of ownership on the special teams — going to Coach Nord and saying, ‘Hey, we want to be a part of this team, we want to be a part of that team. Coach, make sure you have us three on there for sure.’ You very see seldom see starting backs with that type of attitude and that will just rub off on the young guys.”

Josh Clemons wasn’t mentioned in the running back discussion because he is only going every other day as he recovers from injury, but Joker said he’s definitely in the mix. Redshirting isn’t an option for the sophomore back.

 Former Indiana basketball commit Trey Lyles is free to move about the country and Jeff Goodman’s sources told him UK and Syracuse were “poking around ” before the class of 2014 star decommitted on Wednesday. That could be true, but it doesn’t mean the Cats and Orange are in the best position to steal him. Lyles’ father told ESPN that North Carolina and Duke are the two schools his son mentions the most. He’s also considering Georgetown and UCLA, according to his old man.

 Keith Clanton tweeted, “What to do?”

Answer: Kentucky.

 The KSR tour hits Monticello on Thursday. See you there?