It has been a long while since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, just before the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his legend has only grown.
The Legend Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. Being an actor known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during Lincoln, he had the director address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is taking this chance to express his anger regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” 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 life for a performer, it must principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, it appears like Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has developed in his image. When you are regarded as among the best actors in history, and your process includes striking a prop until you break your nose (for 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 trying to mimic their idol.
In other words, we now live in a landscape populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. At the shallow end of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined 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.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” gifts to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, included deceased animals to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a critical magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I recall [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
The actor says he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their practices. Maybe if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing more films. Surely everyone would get behind that.
