It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 that he would cease to work as an actor, prior to the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his legend expanded further.
The Legend Surrounding His Acting Method
Primarily, this reputation centers on his preferred style of working. As someone known for immerses himself in his characters – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg call him “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he really send messages to co-star 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: have we lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his anger at how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he stated to the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and those details typically include some form of self-flagellation or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or mental instability. But of course, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
To be honest, this sounds as if the actor has come out from seclusion only to discover shocked by the acting community that has developed in his image. When you are widely considered among the best performers in history, and your approach includes striking a prop until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we exist in an environment full of imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to show the world the extensive degree of dedication 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 dedicated the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These items, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The main practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. All of this, in part, is meant to invoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just start making additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
