It’s been quite some time since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Legend of His Method
Primarily, this reputation revolves around his preferred style of working. As someone known for disappears into his characters – for instance, while filming the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and those details typically include some form of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the career of an actor, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, this sounds like Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has been created mirroring his methods. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your process involves headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will attempt to emulate that example by imitating their idol.
Essentially, we now live in an environment populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to demonstrate the extensive degree of dedication they invest in a character. At the shallow end of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she transformed into an Italian native for a year and a half in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman during 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 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 critical magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I recall [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan to retire, 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. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, three years after the movie’s release. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Fight
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing more films. Surely everyone would get behind that.
