It has been quite some time since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Mythos of His Method
Largely, this legend revolves around his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor known for immerses himself in his characters – for instance, during Lincoln, he had the director address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has grown more fascinated with his process. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely 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: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his frustration at how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “People often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and these elements always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or a situation that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the life of an actor, it must mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
To be honest, this sounds like Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat and found himself shocked by the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as one of the greatest actors in history, and your process includes striking a prop until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic their idol.
In other words, we now live in an environment full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These items, depending on who you ask, included deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded to get a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life to the utmost for everyone around him.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The foremost practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll on himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” said an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
An Admirable But Uphill Fight
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
