It’s been quite some time since anyone caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, just before the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Legend Surrounding His Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has become more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he really send texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his anger at how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think suggests that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “People often concentrate on superficial aspects of acting, and those details typically include some form of self-flagellation or an experience 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 of Imitators
Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion and found himself shocked by the world that has been created in his image. When you are regarded as one of the greatest actors to ever work, and your approach involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will attempt to emulate that example by trying to mimic their idol.
In other words, we now live in an environment populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she transformed into an Italian native for a year and a half in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These items, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The main Method Guy currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a derisive magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall him causing everyone else to react with exasperation,” said an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
An Admirable But Uphill Battle
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to show them its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing more films. Certainly we could all get behind that.
