It’s been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would cease to work as an actor, just before the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Acting Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored style of working. As someone who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he really send texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear various individuals gobbling off and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think suggests that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he stated to a major publication. “People often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and these elements typically include some sort of self-punishment or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or mental instability. However, in the career of an actor, it has to principally be about the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
To be honest, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the acting community that has been created mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as among the best actors in history, and your process includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in isolation without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to emulate that example by imitating their idol.
In other words, we now live in an environment populated by half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. At the shallow end of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she became functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, although the actor refuted the most extreme claims. And then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded to get a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll to himself that worries me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall [him] making others roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).
The actor says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, truly’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their practices. Maybe 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 simply start making more films. Surely we could all get behind that.