It has been a long while since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Mythos Surrounding His Acting Method
Primarily, this reputation revolves around his favored style of working. Being an actor known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during Lincoln, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he really send texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted for Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his anger at how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear various individuals gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and these elements always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or a situation that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
An Industry of Imitators
To be honest, it appears as if Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has been created in his image. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest actors to ever work, and your process includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
Essentially, we exist in an environment full of imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to show the world the sheer amount of effort they invest in a character. At the shallow end of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, although Leto denied those worst excesses. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The foremost Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to retire, truly’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following the movie’s release. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
An Admirable But Uphill Battle
And, although his rebuttal against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall 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.
