It has been a long while since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his favored style of working. As someone who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, while filming Lincoln, he had the director address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham 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 lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days to hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-punishment or a situation that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or mental instability. But of course, in the career of an actor, it must principally be about the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds like the actor has come out from his retreat only to discover shocked by the acting community that has developed in his image. When you are regarded as among the best actors to ever work, and your approach includes striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will attempt to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we exist in a landscape populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of dedication they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of the pool there are performers such as 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 became functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The main practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll on himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I recall [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to retire, really’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in 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, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors might be noble, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply begin producing additional movies. Surely everyone would support that idea.
