It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his legend has only grown.
The Legend of His Method
Largely, this legend centers on his favored style of working. As someone known for disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, he had the director call him “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his frustration regarding how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days to hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “People often concentrate on the less important aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the life of an actor, it must mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, this sounds like Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as among the best performers in history, and your process includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.
In other words, we exist in an environment full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they invest in a character. At the shallow end of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These items, depending on who you ask, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded to get a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The main practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a derisive magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I recall [him] making others roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. All of this, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Battle
Moreover, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their practices. Perhaps if he wishes to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to show them what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing more films. Surely we could all get behind that.
