It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Legend Surrounding His Method
Largely, this legend centers on his favored style of working. Being an actor known for immerses himself in his characters – for example, during Lincoln, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat game he hunted for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is using this to vocalise his frustration regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and these elements always seem to involve some form of self-flagellation or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the career of an actor, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”
A World of Imitators
Frankly, it appears like Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion only to discover aghast at the world that has developed in his image. When you are widely considered among the best performers to ever work, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement 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 imitating your hero.
In other words, we exist in an environment populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to show the world the extensive degree of dedication they put into their roles. At the shallow end 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 transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These, depending on who you ask, included deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating 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 currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a critical New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll on himself concerns me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making others roll their eyes,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Battle
And, although his rebuttal against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just start making additional movies. Certainly we could all support that idea.
