It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Legend of His Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his favored style of working. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, while filming Lincoln, he had the director address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we lost interest with actorly excess?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is using this to express his anger regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “People tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. However, in the career for a performer, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, it appears like the actor has come out from seclusion only to discover aghast at the world that has been created mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as among the best actors to ever work, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we exist in an environment populated by half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they invest in their roles. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she transformed into an Italian native for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These, depending on who you ask, included deceased animals to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The foremost Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll on himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I recall him causing others to react with exasperation,” said an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan 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 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, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle
And, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone 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. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
