It’s been a long while since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his legend expanded further.
The Legend of His Acting Method
Largely, this legend revolves around his favored style of working. As someone known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, while filming Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he consumed solely game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is using this to vocalise his anger regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and those details typically include some sort of self-flagellation or a situation that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life of an actor, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has been created in his image. If you’re regarded as among the best performers in history, and your process includes striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic their idol.
Essentially, we now live in a landscape populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate 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 so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded to get a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for everyone around him.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The main Method Guy at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor claims he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Battle
And, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wishes to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making more films. Surely we could all support that idea.
