It has 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 work as an actor, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.
The Legend of His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in his characters – for example, during Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg call him “Mr President” throughout the shoot – the world has grown more fascinated with how he works. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Currently, Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration at how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear various individuals 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 the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life of an actor, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, it appears as if the actor has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the acting community that has developed 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 (in Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in solitary confinement without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
Essentially, we exist in an environment populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they put into a character. 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 dedicated the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she transformed into an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The main practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, truly’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis takes his work.
An Admirable But Uphill Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
