It has been quite some time since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos of His Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. As someone who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during Lincoln, he had Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown more fascinated with how he works. Did he really send texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?
Currently, Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his frustration at how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “People tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, this sounds like Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion only to discover aghast at the acting community that has been created mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as among the best performers in history, and your process includes striking a prop to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.
In other words, we exist in a landscape full of imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember him causing others roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his work.
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, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing more films. Certainly we could all support that idea.
