It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. As someone known for immerses himself in his characters – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, he had the director call him “Mr President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Now, Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his anger at how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think is meant to imply that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “People often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or mental instability. But of course, in the career of an actor, it must principally be about the inner transformation.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, it appears like Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat only to discover shocked by the acting community that has been created in his image. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest performers in history, and your approach includes striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we now live in an environment full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they invest in their roles. On the milder side of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These items, depending on who you ask, range from dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost Method Guy at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a derisive magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll on himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember him causing everyone else to react with exasperation,” said an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to retire, really’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, three years after the movie’s release. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Battle
And, 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 the true essence of the Method, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just start making additional movies. Surely everyone would get behind that.
