It has been quite some time since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Legend Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, he had the director call him “Mr President” throughout the shoot – the world has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed 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 lost interest with actorly excess?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. And he is using this to express his frustration regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays to hear various individuals talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he stated to the New York Times. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and these elements typically include some form of self-flagellation or a situation that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. However, in the life for a performer, it must principally be about the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
To be honest, it appears as if the actor has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the acting community that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered one of the greatest actors to ever work, and your approach involves striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will attempt to emulate that example by imitating their idol.
Essentially, we exist in an environment full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they put into their roles. At the shallow end of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The main Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember him causing everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).
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 an animal carcass during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, years following the movie’s release. All of this, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their practices. Maybe if he wants 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 start making more films. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
