It’s been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Legend of His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation revolves around his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during Lincoln, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Did he really send texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is acting insane in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “People often concentrate on superficial aspects of acting, and these elements typically include some sort of self-flagellation or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the career of an actor, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, it appears as if Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat and found himself shocked by the acting community that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as one of the greatest actors in history, and your process involves headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will attempt to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.
In other words, we exist in an environment full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These items, depending on who you ask, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The main practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll to himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an anonymous cast member).
The actor claims he ‘never intended to retire, truly’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Battle
And, while his fightback 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. Perhaps if he wishes to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
