It’s been quite some time since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, during his hiatus, his reputation has only grown.
The Legend Surrounding His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into his characters – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that someone is acting insane in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “People tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. However, in the career of an actor, it must principally be about the internal work.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, it appears as if Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat only to discover shocked by the world that has developed mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as among the best performers in history, and your process involves striking a prop until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we now live in an environment populated by half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, though the actor refuted the most extreme claims. And then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The foremost Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a derisive magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll on himself that worries me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after the movie’s release. All of this, in part, is meant to invoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
An Admirable But Uphill 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 behaviour. Perhaps if he wishes to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making additional movies. Surely we could all get behind that.
