It has been a long while since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his legend has only grown.
The Legend of His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation revolves around his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has grown more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat game he hunted during Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his frustration regarding how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and these elements typically include some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life for a performer, it has to principally be about the internal work.”
A World Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat only to discover shocked by the acting community that has been created in his image. When you are regarded as among the best actors in history, and your process includes striking a prop until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we now live in an environment full of imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the extensive degree of dedication they invest in their roles. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she transformed into an Italian native for a year and a half in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, though Leto denied 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 feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember him causing others roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).
The actor says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. Each of these instances, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Fight
And, although his rebuttal against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making more films. Surely everyone would get behind that.
