This is a special occasion – do you know how infrequently the tabloids even bother to gossip about Daniel Day-Lewis? He’s more untouchable in the gossip world than, say, Meryl Streep. Everyone agrees that DDL is a genius, a brilliant actor, and beyond that, I think most people just think he’s a sweet, low-key man. Which means he’s pretty boring for gossip (unless you want to go back two decades when he was fooling around with all of his leading ladies!). So, what I’m saying is: ENJOY THIS. The National Enquirer has a source who claims that DDL is kind of cheap. But not really – he just appreciates a good deal! He and I are so much alike. We both appreciate a good early bird special.
Daniel Day-Lewis treated his family to dinner on a recent California vacation – but despite his $40 million net worth, Daniel insisted they all order Early Bird Specials!
“Daniel is as tight as a tick and will do things on the cheap whenever he gets the chance,” says an insider. “If the studio is picking up the check, it’s champagne and caviar for everyone. But if it’s a meal for his family on his dime, Daniel scrimps whenever he can.”
Daniel took his wife Rebecca and three sons to the Golden Bull Restaurant in Santa Monica on Nov. 1, where they slipped in just in time to catch the discounted dinners. Daniel ordered the $18 prime rib special, disclosed an eyewitness.
After the kids gulped down dessert, Daniel proved to be fairly generous with the tip, leaving 20%. During the vacation, the family also enjoyed a visit to the Santa Monica Pier to ride the roller coaster and Ferris Wheel. Then Daniel went back to penny-pinching mode for lunch at a Subway sandwich shop.
“It’s one of Daniel’s favorite spots… he likes the specials that come with chips and a drink. He orders two foot-long subs and splits them, then buys a single six-inch sub. He boasts that he can get lunch for the whole gang for $20!”
[From The Enquirer, print edition]
Mother of all that is holy, $18 for a prime rib special?! I would be super-jazzed about that too! I LOVE PRIME RIB. If I got a good prime rib for $18 on an Early Bird Special, I would be bragging about that for the next two years. See? I’m perfect for Daniel. I like to eat early too and I would never turn down any opportunity for prime rib. As for the Subway sandwiches… well, that’s a pretty good deal too, and I just have this image of DDL standing there, reading about all of the Subway specials and realizing that he could feed his family a buffet of sandwiches, chips and lemonade for under $20. He’s precious. It’s adorable.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
LOL
What’s wrong with that…who doesn’t love a bargain?! I love him even more now!
Me too! I mean, it’s not enough that he’s one of the best actors (if not the best) of his generation but he’s a practical man too? Hell to the yeah. LOL. I’d be jumping for joy if I found a prime rib special like that.
Ha me too! Charming really! $18 prime rib special – yes please!
Yeah, I thought this would be about not tipping or demanding things for free because he’s famous. But no, he’s just practical, and there’s really nothing wrong with that.
The tabs are reaching but I love this story. DDL and his early bird specials can get it.
I dunno about sweet, he’s a great actor but I’ve heard rumors that he’s a bit douche-y. As for everything else, I can’t fault the guy for being thrifty-it’s how I live. (with less money, obviously)
Yup, a brilliant douche.
Also, 20% is considered “generous” where exactly?
Out here, 20% is really the standard, and my peasant friends and I usually tip anywhere from 20%-30%. Someone of his means could probably afford a bit more on an $18 bill, no?
I think 20% is the norm, but it’s not everywhere else in the country.
They must have so much fun at Nat Enqurer HQ! I imagine they have a little Wheel of Fortune-style wheel they spin to decide which actor they’re going to write a story about. And then they just go from office to office and everyone has to shout out a random word: “Subway”, “Bird” “Ribs”. It’s the assigned writer’s task to then come up with a story that features the star and keywords which is as plausible as it is fictional.
LOL!!! I totally love this visual! Thanks for the early laugh. 😀
Ha ha ! This Enquirer article surely sounds like it was done exactly in the way you described.
Man, I feel hungry now…
I thought the early bird specialseant you were old? I only read this story because it is too funny.
Anyone can take advantage of early bird specials, if you don’t mind having dinner at 5:30. I love that even though he loves a bargain he’s a good tipper.
I was raised by my grandparents and we always ate dinner at 4:30 sharp. To this day, if I don’t have some sort of meal by 5:00, I’m ready to pass out or kill someone. It just seems normal to me! I don’t know how people can eat dinner at 7 or 8.
Wait, so you don’t eat anything else after 5? At what time do you go to bed? And what about lunch?
I think Daniel is a brilliant actor and an interesting, complex man. Sweet though, no…this is the same man who broke up with his heavily pregnant girlfriend (Isabelle Adjani) via a fax before marrying Rebecca Miller. Yes, a fax. Adjani confirmed it and he also apparently did not give child support or see his son for a while…although now he, his son with Adjani, and Adjani seem to be on decent terms now and he’s been photographed with Gabriel a lot. If he wasn’t a British white dude, he would have been demonized for these stunts (rightly so) in the press for a while….
Gabriel has lived with Daniel for the last 5 years.
That’s good that he has a nice relationship with Gabriel. Still doesn’t change the fact that I have hard time finding him an overall “sweet” person considering how he handled that mess in the beginning. I do think the story, if true, about him dining out and being cheap is cute and sweet but it doesn’t make him a sweet person.
Was she obviously pregnant (like you could see her bump)? Because the story I heard on here, was that he dumped her right after she found out that she was pregnant (not that he neccessarily dumped her because she was pregnant)–that they’d had a rocky relationship, and that they were always breaking up and getting back together, but that that time she just happened to be pregnant.
But I did hear that he said he wasn’t ready to be a father, so I’d believe that he did dump her because she was pregnant. But it was years ago. I don’t see why people are bringing it up now. You know what’s worse than dumping your pregnant girlfriend? Never putting your big boy pants on and admitting that you made a horrible mistake and fixing it.
Adjani has denied the fax story and he is obviously an involved father to his son now.
LOL I brought it up because I caught Adele H last night for the second time. Isabelle was stunning back in the day and still would be if she hadn’t gotten so much plastic surgery. I may have come off kind of harsh. I think DDL is very likely a decent, good guy, and I give him kudos for putting on his big boy pants as you said and fixing his f*ck up. I was just raising an eyebrow at him being characterized as a sweet guy, because of the Adjani story and also because of the stories of him being a good person but nevertheless kind of difficult because he gets so immersed in his characters…he apparently pissed off Liam Neeson once because of this. Sweet to me is different than “good and decent”…Sweet is like Will Smith, Denzel, and Matt Damon.
@Sola. That’s interesting, because I could have sworn that The Guardian once stated the fax story about Adjani as a fact. I’m glad that it wasn’t true.
I don’t know about sweet, but I know someone who has worked for him and he apparently is very good to the people who work for him. I think that says a lot in his favor.
I know a make up artist who worked with him on one of his movies. And said he was really nice but sort of stayed in character, but always real polite and sweet.
I love daniel i read about him, his bio and such and apparently his and adjanis relationship was famously on and off. So it wasn’t a steady relationship by any means. And he didn’t break it off to be with Rebecca. Rebecca came later, he was with someone else when he met Rebecca. So there was some scandal that he dumped that girl
His womanising at the time was kind of well known i don’t think thats news to anyone.
He and Adjani had broken up years before he and Miller married. Now he DID leave a different girlfriend to run off and marry Miller,but she wasn’t pregnant.
@lark: no one would characterize Will Smith or Denzel as sweet. Ever. So maybe you want to do a little catch-up.
you fail to mention the physical abuse DANIEL suffered at the hands of famously unstable Adjani – amazing how you edit out the truth. No one deserves to be hit. Not even a man. He had every right to leave her.
How do you know? I don’t believe you.
How do you know? And even if it is true how does this explain why daniel was a bad and absent father the first years of his son’s life?
If this is true I think it is even worse that he abandoned his son for the first years of his life.
I love how him ordering a prime rib special turns into him forcing his whole family to order early birds because he’s cheap. Maybe he just likes prime rib!
He doesn’t seem like a paycheck actor and only does a movie every couple of years, so I think it’s wise to not be throwing cash around like crazy.
It is refreshing that a 40M net worth actor would teach his children to live normally when he could raise spoiled, self entitled brats. Bravo to him and his wife for instilling a sense of reality in their kids – living as others do.
Still would. *drops mic and exits*
+1
Wow he is low key if this is all the tabloids could come up with. They couldn’t find that one time he under-tipped? Cut someone off in traffic? 🙂
🙂 I was thinking about the same. This is just comical.
You know what this shows if it’s true? That he and Rebecca are as NORMAL as they come. Both Daniel and Rebecca came from famous parents and are raising their kids to be regular people … not to be rich douchebags who expect everything to come to them, just because of their last names. I could believe it, considering how Daniel wears the same clothes for years (I’m a huge fan of his and I’ve spotted the fact that he has a suit he has worn now for 20 years). KUDOS to him and Rebecca. This just makes me adore them both even more.
But just one more thing…. The ‘slipping in for the early bird specials’ – they could also do that because a) Dan gets up at the crack of dawn most days to work out and gets really hungry earlier than most and b) he and family are very reclusive…. Could be they don’t want to get papped when all the ‘celebs’ head out for dinner.
Yeah, I was expecting an article about him not tipping, or being cheap in a way that was annoying to his friends and family. The early bird special gives me a bit of a smile, but it wouldn’t surprise me if his family just likes to eat dinner fairly early. The Subway thing doesn’t surprise me at all. I mean, he has kids, and kids love that stuff.
Considering the number of sheer unmitigated arseholes there are in the film industry being a bit tight is a fairly minimal quirk in comparison. Daniel is one of the few actors who truly deserve to be called an artist (Meryl, Cate Blanchette, Gary Oldman – there are few – very few others) and this is the only thing a tabloid can write about him? Maybe he’s saving it up for his kids, so they can go to college and have a decent life – now that would be really lousy of him.
I very much doubt those kids need to worry about a college fund since their grandparents on both sides [nevermind their parents] were wealthy and were literary giants whose works are still generating cash – Look up Arthur Miller/Inge Morath and Cecil Day Lewis/Jill Balcon!!
Come on… clearly he’s in “method mode” prepping for his next role where he plays a senior citizen.
Your comment is giving me LIFE.
I was going to comment the same thing. Is HE cheap, or is his next character a regular person, so he’s living like one for the next two years?
hahahahahah
Really? This made the tabloids?! It’s not even remotely bad or scandalous. True or not, it is not a fault if DDL likes bargains. Personally, I hate Subway. The smell of the bread alone makes me gag, but I would not be averse to going there with DDL! My treat…he can get ANYTHING he wants. He can get a soda, chips and with his charm, he will definitely get a free cookie.
He got the good deal *and* he tipped 20%? Hell, at least he won’t end up broke like so many washed-up actors. Good for him.
It’s not like he made everyone pay for themselves. Although I’m not a huge fan of Subway, it’s better for you than most fast food, and it’s cheap.
Squeal! A DDL post! Such a rarity nowadays.
Love him <3 He’s a ride.
I don’t really believe this story to be true, but if it was I want to know what his favorite Subway sandwich is, as for the splitting a whole sandwich my hubby and I do that all the time, who really needs to eat a whole foot long sandwich. I’ve always loved Daniel, I consider him one of the great actors of our time, when I watch one of his films I don’t feel I’m watching DDL, I feel like I’m actually watching whatever character he is playing, several current actors and actresses should take note of how it’s done.
Subway. God, love this man.
I tip my hat to you this am CB and kaiser- it’s not even 6 am here and already Matthew with bongos and a DDL post. Throw in a Daniel Craig post and my biscuit might explode.
A million thanks.
You mean lady. You made me spit my coffee!
Maybe he just likes the way they taste? What is it with this stupid attitude that the more a meal costs, naturally the tastier it is?? That’s utter bull. I’ve been lucky to attend a few fancy banquets with specialties and expensive dishes on the menu (all paid by someone else, lol) and let me tell you the majority don’t come close to a simple ribs and potatoes with salad meal. It could be that I’m a peasant, but still, Subway sandwiches and prime ribs >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> champagne and caviar
This story is funny. Maybe dude is an early riser and goes to bed early, or doesn’t like to go to bed with a heavy meal sitting in his stomach. I used to eat late but have switched my eating times around a bit and find that eating dinner early makes so much more sense for my body and my daily routine. And Subway? Dang, nothing wrong with splitting some foot-longs with the family! Where is it written that every wealthy person MUST eat at expensive restaurants all of the time, especially when out with their kids? Such a funny non-story – keep it up, Enquirer!
”I think most people just think he’s a sweet, low-key man”
Really? I don’t think I’ve ever heard DDL being described as ‘sweet’ or ‘low-key’. True, he doesn’t seek out publicity but from most accounts he’s very private and decidedly eccentric. I’ve also heard he’s difficult to work with. Sweet? I don’t think so.
He’s difficult to work with because he’s a method actor–which I guess that would depend upon the role. When he did “My Left Foot” the crew kept getting annoyed because he’d make them feed him by spoon–but I don’t think that constitutes as diva behavior.
I agree. Unpopular opinion but I find this whole “method” thing absolutely silly. And people who claim to be “method” clearly take themselves way too seriously.
I don’t care much about DDL, but I don’t get why the fact that he goes to Subway makes him so likeable. Subway, really? Everytime I walk past a Subway, the smell is so bad I have to stop breathing for a few seconds (but maybe Subway in the US is better than the ones we have in Europe? who knows) And that’s where he goes? Ok. It just sounds like he has crap taste and he’s a bit stingy. And if there’s one thing I can’t forgive with a guy it’s stinginess.
I heard that when Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman were filming Marathon Man, DH is method so he prepared for the torture scene by going without sleep, food, putting himself in acute discomfort, etc. Olivier allegedly took all this In and said “why don’t you try acting, dear boy, it’s so much easier!”
Hoffman himself is the one who told the story about Olivier. He was going through a divorce, depressed, dabbling in drugs, and not sleeping. It had little to do with the role. He was self-destructing and he used the film as an excuse to do so. Like, “For research, I stayed out all night at Studio 54 and did a line of coke.” Olivier saw through that and joked about it. By all accounts Olivier adored Hoffman and vice versa. It’s a quote that was distorted by the press and has been used to make fun of method actors like Hoffman for years. Here’s Day-Lewis talking about it from that perspective. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKfGU3vKjvc That part begins w/ Daniel talking about “In the Name of the Father” and about staying in a jail cell. Part three is before it, and he talks about why he did it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4qRs2U_890
As long as he treats those who wait on him with respect and leaves good tips, I don’t care how cheap he is!
I love him even more now. First off, my husband and I both love us some Subway. We get the $5 Footlongs, one for each of us and sneak into the movies, along with our own Crystal Light Lemonade, made at home, in my thermos and some chips. Don’t judge, have you seen the prices of movie sodas, snacks, food etc.?! I live in New York City and if we bought all that stuff at the theater it would be a $70 ordeal….no thank you.
We have the same movie routine. I prefer to think we’re smart, not cheap! And NYC prices are crazy, dude.
I see nothing wrong with this.
In fact now I plan on hitting up Subway for lunch/dinner today. Hmmm….tuna on italian herbs and cheese…maybe the 9 grain
As long as he’s a fair tipper, I don’t care if he early-birds it. Finding a deal but tipping fairly is being frugal, not cheap. Cheap is not tipping.
I love Subway! When I’m on the road with my athlete daughter, it’s a great place to get a fast tasty meal with a lot of fresh veggies.
“He’s precious. It’s adorable.” And then you throw down that picture?!?!? That picture?!?! I don’t think precious and adorable make me this warm this quickly.
He’s probably setting a good example for his kids.
Their veggie sandwiches are quite good and diet friendly. If you are stuck in a food court, it’s the most healthy option.
Hey, sometimes I really want a dirty Caesar salad and extra anchovies. Sometimes I just want a sandwich. What’s the big?
Sweet. I don’t think he is sweet, from what I have heard, but he is real. And I approve of raising children to appreciate the value of things. I know it is a first world problem, but it must be a challenge to raise kids who are not entitled brats if you are wealthy.
that is so funny. I kind of love him even more now.
My love for DDL runs even deeper than Cumber-love. That is all.
So he is cheap to himself. What the biggie?
And Ill grab a Subway sub with you anytime Daniel, my treat! 🙂
I would do him and the fact that he’s frugal makes me want to do him more.
He comes from a long line of eccentric Brits. It would be news if he wasn’t lining up for an early bird special.
I love him–he’s an incredibly talented actor, classy man, and oh yes, in a heartbeat I still so fucking would.
Who on earth doesn’t love an Early Bird Special?
…and now I liked him even more.
Not mad at him at all. In fact, he should check out Walmart’s party subs. They’re ridiculously good, especially the bread, and they give you the fixings (tomatoes, lettuce, onions and condiments) on the side for around the same price, if not cheaper.
There’s nothing wrong with being frugal. Having money doesn’t mean you have to drain it all away. I actually admire him for living the normal life instead of showering his kids with $300 dinners.
He is a horrible actor. A scenery chewing hack. He was a rambling mess in Lincoln and everyone from Hal Holbrook to Joseph Gordon Levitt acted circles around him. Ugh.
When we as a family want to go out for something to eat,Subway is pretty much the only place the whole family can agree on.It’s quick,fresh, cheap and we each can have our sandwiches any way we want.
Wait you’re telling me you get CHIPS at Subway, in America? You don’t here
I think you are thinking what we call French fries, they are talking about you would call crisps.
Ah yeah, if you go for the meal deal with the drink and either the cookie or crisps/Doritos – well in Britain and Ireland you do anyway.
Our local branch closed this year – I miss it so.
Well maybe they were just hungry at that specific time and when they got to the restaurant it was early bird special time??? give me a break. You cannot plan your hunger!!
He lives in Wicklow – he needs to save the shekels wherever he can!
He lives in NY. He moved from ireland some year ago.
Still only moderately cheaper than Wicklah 😉