It’s been a long while since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. Being an actor who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become more fascinated with his process. Did he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his anger regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “People often concentrate on the less important aspects of acting, and these elements typically include some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or psychological strain. But of course, in the life of an actor, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”
A World Full of Followers
To be honest, this sounds as if the actor has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. If you’re widely considered among the best performers to ever work, and your approach includes striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic your hero.
Essentially, we exist in a landscape populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she transformed into an Italian native for a year and a half in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The main Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a critical New Yorker profile, full of quotes from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall him causing others roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle
And, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Surely we could all get behind that.
