It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored style of working. As someone known for disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has grown more fascinated with how he works. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely game he hunted for Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Now, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays to hear various individuals talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and those details typically include some form of self-punishment or a situation that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life of an actor, it must principally be about the internal work.”
An Industry Full of Followers
To be honest, this sounds like Day-Lewis has emerged from seclusion and found himself aghast at the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered one of the greatest performers in history, and your approach involves striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.
Essentially, we exist in a landscape full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to show the world the extensive degree of dedication they invest in a character. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These items, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a critical magazine feature, including statements from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” remarked co-star 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 ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle
And, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
