Why Daniel Day-Lewis' early retirement is horrible news

Reportedly, three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is planning to retire from acting per his representatives, with an upcoming reunion with his There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson being his last screen appearance.

Day-Lewis is only 60 years old, which means as a male actor he has at least 25 more years of solid parts if he wants them.

He doesn't make a lot of films to begin with, for instance he hasn't appeared in a film since winning an unprecedented third Best Actor award for 2012's Lincoln. That is the stature that this formidable talent has achieved.

He has been able to pick the projects he wants, when he wants, and his tastefulness has paid off.

He has rarely made a bad film. And even when he has had a misstep (I didn't see Nine, like a lot of people, and the reviews suggested I didn't miss much) it's been papered over by his stellar track record.

In more recent years, thanks to collaborations with high profile directors like Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, he's even become more commercially viable in middle age. His name connotes a certain adult quality. He is infamously committed to realism and exhaustively researches his roles, so it makes sense that for him film acting has been more demanding than I would imagine its been for say, Mark Wahlberg, and perhaps he's simply burnt out after reinventing himself over and over again.

Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood

Still, like so many hardcore movie fans, I am heartbroken over this news. I hate to think of the great Day-Lewis performances we will never see, and it feels like a cheat.

While we are forced to endure oversaturated actors who should seriously consider working less and being more selective with their scripts (here's looking at you Johnny Depp), this true unicorn of a movie star is departing the stage far too soon in my opinion.

I'm still someone who laments the early retirement of actors like Gene Hackman and Sean Connery (although, gratefully, Jack Nicholson is coming back), but this somehow feels like a bigger blow.

Now, years ago Day-Lewis seemed to have checked out of acting for good when he took up cobbling and hermit-like lifestyle in Europe, so perhaps his 'retirement' will be of the Jay-Z/Steven Soderbergh variety, just a mere blip on his filmography.

Unlike so many other iconic actors -- we know so little about Day-Lewis the man -- his genius is to submerge himself so deeply in character that you don't think of the actor playing him. What is Day-Lewis' persona? What are his acting tics? He is a star -- sort of -- but he is more famous for being incredibly committed and talented, than for delivering a signature style on camera.

And now his finale will take on even greater significance. Any P.T. Anderson film would be an event for me regardless of the star, but the premise that this film -- tentatively titled Phantom Thread -- will be his swan song, lends it even more potential power.

There really is no one acting today who holds a candle to Day-Lewis, and if he really is stepping aside there will be a huge shadow in his wake.