It’s been a long while since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, just before the release of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his preferred approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Is it true he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Currently, Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his anger at how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-flagellation or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or mental instability. However, in the career for a performer, it must principally be about the internal work.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, this sounds like Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the acting community that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as one of the greatest performers in history, and your approach involves striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.
In other words, we now live in an environment populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the extensive degree of effort they put into their roles. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native over 18 months as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included 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 during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a critical magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I recall him causing everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘did not plan to retire, truly’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass during 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, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble But Uphill Fight
And, while his fightback against method detractors might be noble, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their practices. Perhaps if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
