It has been a long while since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this legend centers on his preferred approach to roles. As someone who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, he had the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat game he hunted during Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays to hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he stated to a major publication. “People often concentrate on superficial aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it must principally be about the internal work.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, it appears as if the actor has come out from his retreat and found himself shocked by the world that has been created mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your process involves striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to emulate that example by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we now live in an environment full of imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to show the world the sheer amount of effort they invest in a character. On the milder side of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These, depending on who you ask, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied those worst excesses. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties to the utmost for everyone around him.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The main Method Guy currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll to himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to retire, really’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
And, while his fightback against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to alter perceptions, let alone their practices. 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 start making more films. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
