It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has become more fascinated with how he works. Did he really send texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?
Currently, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his frustration at how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is acting insane in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “People tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease 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 as if Day-Lewis has emerged from seclusion only to discover 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 approach includes striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
Essentially, we exist in an environment full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. At the shallow end of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
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 formed the basis of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember him causing others roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble But Uphill Battle
Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour might not be enough to alter perceptions, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wishes to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing additional movies. Surely everyone would support that idea.
