It has been a long while since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. As someone known for immerses himself in his characters – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, he had the director address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – the world has grown more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his frustration regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays to hear various individuals gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that someone is acting insane in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that causes extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the career for a performer, it must principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as one of the greatest actors in history, and your process includes striking a prop to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by imitating your hero.
In other words, we now live in a landscape full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they put into their roles. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, although Leto denied those worst excesses. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded to get a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a derisive magazine feature, including statements from people who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an anonymous cast member).
The actor claims he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Battle
Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour might not be enough to alter perceptions, let alone their practices. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing more films. Surely we could all get behind that.
