It has been quite some time since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his legend expanded further.
The Legend Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. Being an actor known for immerses himself in his characters – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg call him “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become more fascinated with his process. Did he really send texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted during Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Now, Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is using this to express his frustration regarding how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days to hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that someone is acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, this sounds like the actor has emerged from seclusion only to discover aghast at the acting community that has developed in his image. When you are regarded as among the best performers in history, and your process includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
Essentially, we exist in an environment full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for everyone around him.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The foremost Method Guy at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a critical magazine feature, including statements from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I recall [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).
The actor says he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. Each of these instances, in part, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing more films. Surely everyone would support that idea.
