It’s been a long while since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, just before the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his preferred approach to roles. As someone who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, he had the director call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his frustration at how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the career of an actor, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry Full of Followers
To be honest, it appears as if Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion only to discover shocked by the acting community that has developed in his image. When you are widely considered among the best performers in history, and your process 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), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to emulate that example by imitating their idol.
Essentially, we exist in an environment full of imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These items, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, although the actor refuted the most extreme claims. Then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost Method Guy currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a critical magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember him causing others to react with exasperation,” stated 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 for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. Each of these instances, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable But Uphill Battle
And, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just start making additional movies. Certainly we could all get behind that.
