It has been a long while since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer pursue acting, just before the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Mythos of His Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his preferred approach to roles. As someone known for disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted for Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his frustration regarding how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “People tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. However, in the career of an actor, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds like Day-Lewis has emerged from seclusion only to discover shocked by the world that has been created in his image. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach involves striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.
In other words, we exist in a landscape populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to show the world the extensive degree of dedication they put into a character. On the milder side 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 entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she transformed into functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to his castmates. These, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, although Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties to the utmost for everyone around him.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I recall [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to stop acting, truly’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble But Uphill Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, not to mention their practices. Perhaps if he wants to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply begin producing more films. Surely everyone would get behind that.
