It has been a long while since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 that 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 reputation has only grown.
The Legend of His Method
Largely, this legend centers on his favored style of working. Being an actor known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming Lincoln, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Did 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? Did he insist on receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he stated to the New York Times. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-punishment or an experience that causes extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the life of an actor, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
Frankly, it appears as if Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat only to discover aghast at the acting community that has developed in his image. When you are widely considered one of the greatest performers in history, and your approach includes striking a prop to the point of injury (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 other actors will want to emulate that example by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we exist in an environment full of imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of dedication they invest in a character. At the shallow end of the pool we have people like 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 became an Italian native for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, depending on who you ask, included deceased animals to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded to get a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The main practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming 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 to himself that worries me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making others roll their eyes,” stated an anonymous cast member).
The actor says he ‘never intended to retire, really’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. All of this, in part, is meant to invoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle
Moreover, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making additional movies. Surely everyone would support that idea.
