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 The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Primarily, this legend centers on his preferred approach to roles. As someone known for immerses himself in his characters – for instance, while filming Lincoln, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that causes a severe discomfort or psychological strain. But of course, in the life for a performer, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, it appears like the actor has emerged from seclusion only to discover aghast at the acting community that has been created in his image. When you are widely considered among the best actors to ever work, and your process involves striking a prop until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will attempt to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.
In other words, we now live in an environment populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they put into their roles. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through 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, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for everyone around him.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a critical magazine feature, including statements from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember him causing others roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble But Uphill Fight
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly we could all get behind that.
