It’s been a long while since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Legend of His Method
Largely, this legend revolves around his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during Lincoln, he had the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: have we fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Currently, Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration at how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear various individuals gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
An Industry of Imitators
To be honest, this sounds as if the actor has emerged from his retreat only to discover shocked by the acting community that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as one of the greatest performers in history, and your process includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.
In other words, we now live in an environment populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they put into their roles. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion 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 deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed in creating a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The main practitioner of the Method at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making others to react with exasperation,” said an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
A Noble Yet Challenging Battle
And, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making more films. Certainly we could all get behind that.
