It has been a long while since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his legend expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Acting Method
Primarily, this reputation revolves around his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously disappears into his characters – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, he had the director address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. And he is taking this chance to express his anger regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the career of an actor, it has to principally be about the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
To be honest, it appears like the actor has come out from seclusion only to discover aghast at the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest actors in history, and your process involves headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic their idol.
Essentially, we now live in an environment full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she transformed into functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The main Method Guy currently would appear 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 critical magazine feature, including statements from people who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to retire, truly’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, years following the movie’s release. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Battle
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors might be noble, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps 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 simply begin producing more films. Surely everyone would support that idea.
