Anderson, who had said that he would like to work with Daniel Day-Lewis, wrote the screenplay with Day-Lewis in mind and approached the actor when the script was nearly complete. Anderson had heard that Day-Lewis liked his earlier film "Punch-Drunk Love", which gave him the confidence to hand Day-Lewis a copy of the incomplete script. According to Day-Lewis, being asked to do the film was enough to convince him. In an interview with "The New York Observer", he elaborated that what drew him to the project was "the understanding that had already entered into that world, [he wasn't observing it entered into it and indeed [he'd populated it with characters who felt had lives of their own".