It’s been a long while since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the debut of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Mythos Surrounding His Acting Method
Largely, this legend centers on his favored style of working. Being an actor known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, during Lincoln, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Did he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is using this to vocalise his frustration regarding how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “People often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or an experience that causes a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the career for a performer, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat only to discover aghast at the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. If you’re widely considered among the best performers to ever work, and your approach involves striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to emulate that example by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we exist in an environment populated by half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the extensive degree of dedication they invest in a character. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, 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 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 Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a derisive magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I recall [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, in part, is meant to invoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis takes his work.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle
And, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
