It has been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer pursue acting, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his legend expanded further.
The Legend Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. As someone who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his frustration at how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-punishment or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or psychological strain. But of course, in the life for a performer, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds like the actor has come out from seclusion and found himself shocked by the world that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach includes striking a prop to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.
In other words, we exist in an environment full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to show the world the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she transformed into functionally Italian for a year and a half in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to his castmates. These items, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a derisive magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll to himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I recall [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to stop acting, really’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors 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 the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just start making more films. Certainly we could all get behind that.
