It’s been quite some time since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Primarily, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously disappears into his characters – for example, during Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown more fascinated with how he works. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed for The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we 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 at how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “People often concentrate on superficial aspects of acting, and these elements always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or an experience that causes a severe discomfort or mental instability. However, in the career of an actor, it must mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, it appears like Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has been created in his image. When you are widely considered one of the greatest actors to ever work, and your approach involves striking a prop to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we now live in a landscape populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, included deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, although Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The main practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“The toll to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I recall [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Fight
And, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps if he wishes to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just start making additional movies. Surely everyone would support that idea.
