It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 declaring he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.
The Legend of His Acting Method
Largely, this legend revolves around his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in his characters – for example, during Lincoln, he had the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Currently, Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his anger at how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross 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 behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” 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-flagellation or a situation that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. However, in the life of an actor, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
An Industry of Imitators
To be honest, this sounds like Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat only to discover aghast at the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as one of the greatest actors to ever work, and your process involves striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.
In other words, we exist in an environment populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. At the shallow end of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll on himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember him causing others to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘never intended to retire, truly’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. All of this, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Battle
And, while his fightback to critics of the Method could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wants 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 simply begin producing additional movies. Surely everyone would get behind that.
