It’s 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 pursue acting, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Largely, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. Being an actor who famously disappears into his characters – for example, during Lincoln, he had Steven Spielberg call him “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has grown more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely game he hunted for Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is using this to express his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “People often concentrate on the less important aspects of acting, and these elements typically include some form of self-flagellation or an experience that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life of an actor, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
To be honest, it appears as if Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat and found himself shocked by the acting community that has developed in his image. When you are widely considered among the best performers in history, and your approach involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to emulate that example by imitating your hero.
In other words, we now live in a landscape full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they put into a character. At the shallow end of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she transformed into an Italian native for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These items, depending on who you ask, included deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, though Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I recall him causing others to react with exasperation,” said an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘never intended to retire, really’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after the movie’s release. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle
Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their practices. Maybe if he wishes 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 start making more films. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
