It has been a long while since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Legend of His Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, during Lincoln, he had the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Is it true he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely game he hunted for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his anger regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “People often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the career of an actor, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, this sounds like the actor has emerged from seclusion and found himself aghast at the world that has developed in his image. If you’re regarded as among the best actors 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 (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic their idol.
Essentially, we now live in a landscape populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they invest in their roles. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied those worst excesses. And then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The foremost practitioner of the Method 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 became the basis of a critical magazine feature, including statements from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I recall him causing everyone else to react with exasperation,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
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. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, three years after the movie’s release. Each of these instances, in part, is meant to invoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable 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, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making additional movies. Certainly we could all support that idea.
