It’s been a long while since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his reputation 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, while filming Lincoln, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – the world has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed for The Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?
Currently, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his frustration at how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or an experience that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the career of an actor, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, it appears as if Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion and found himself shocked by the acting community that has been created in his image. When you are regarded as among the best actors to ever work, and your process includes striking a prop until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we exist in a landscape populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to show the world the sheer amount of effort they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, although the actor refuted the most extreme claims. Then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The main practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I recall him causing others roll their eyes,” stated an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. Each of these instances, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
An Admirable But Uphill Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. 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 additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
