It has been a long while since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would cease to work as an actor, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Mythos of His Method
Primarily, this legend centers on his preferred approach to roles. As someone known for disappears into his characters – for example, while filming Lincoln, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “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 animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is using this to vocalise his frustration at how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that someone is acting insane in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “People tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the life for a performer, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
To be honest, it appears like the actor has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as among the best performers in history, and your approach includes striking a prop until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will attempt to emulate that example by imitating their idol.
In other words, we exist in a landscape full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis 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 there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, included deceased animals to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The main Method Guy at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a derisive magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were worried about his conduct (“The toll on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember [him] making others roll their eyes,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘never intended to retire, really’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
A Noble But Uphill Battle
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wants to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making additional movies. Certainly we could all get behind that.
