It’s been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.
The Mythos of His Method
Largely, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. Being an actor who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, during Lincoln, he had the director address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become more fascinated with how he works. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted for The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, 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 to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “People often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and those details typically include some form of self-punishment or a situation that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or mental instability. However, in the career of an actor, it must principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry of Imitators
To be honest, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the acting community that has been created in his image. When you are widely considered one of the greatest actors in history, and your process includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to emulate that example by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we now live in a landscape full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of dedication they put into a character. 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 entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” presents to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The main practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a derisive magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll to himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to retire, truly’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year 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 craft.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes 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 additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
