It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, during his hiatus, his legend has only grown.
The Legend Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, during Lincoln, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – the world has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he really send texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat game he hunted for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to express his frustration regarding how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and these elements typically include some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, this sounds like the actor has come out from his retreat only to discover aghast at the acting community that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered one of the greatest actors to ever work, and your approach involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic your hero.
Essentially, we now live in an environment populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native for a year and a half as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though the actor refuted the most extreme claims. And then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a derisive magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“The toll on himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I recall him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. Each of these instances, in part, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour might not be enough to alter perceptions, not to mention their practices. Perhaps if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making more films. Surely everyone would get behind that.
