It’s been quite some time since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would cease to work as an actor, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Legend Surrounding His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation revolves around his favored style of working. As someone known for immerses himself in his characters – for example, while filming Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – the world has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he really send texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration at how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or an experience that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, it appears like Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion and found himself aghast at the acting community that has developed in his image. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest actors to ever work, and your process includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we exist in a landscape populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they put into their roles. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, though Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for everyone around him.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The foremost Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I recall him causing everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
There are 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 like Elvis Presley, three years after the movie’s release. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just start making additional movies. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
