It has been quite some time since anyone caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would no longer work as an actor, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during Lincoln, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his anger at how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear various individuals talking carelessly and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-flagellation or an experience that causes a severe discomfort or mental instability. However, in the career of an actor, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
To be honest, it appears like Day-Lewis has emerged from seclusion only to discover aghast at the world that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered among the best actors in history, and your process includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.
In other words, we exist in a landscape full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they invest in their roles. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, included dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The main Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘never intended to retire, truly’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk 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 approaches his work.
An Admirable But Uphill Fight
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing additional movies. Surely we could all get behind that.
