It’s been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would cease to work as an actor, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Legend Surrounding His Acting Method
Primarily, this legend centers on his preferred approach to roles. As someone who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming Lincoln, he had the director address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he really send texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Now, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is acting insane in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life of an actor, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
To be honest, it appears as if the actor has emerged from seclusion only to discover aghast at the world that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered among the best actors to ever work, and your approach involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in isolation without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to emulate that example by trying to mimic their idol.
Essentially, we exist in a landscape full of imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they put into a character. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as 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 over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The foremost Method Guy at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor says he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour might not be enough to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly we could all get behind that.
