It’s been a long while since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 declaring he would no longer pursue acting, just before the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Largely, this legend revolves around his preferred style of working. As someone who famously disappears into his characters – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Did he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? 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 is back in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is using this to express his frustration regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “People often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and these elements typically include some sort of self-punishment or an experience that causes extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the career for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
Frankly, it appears as if Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach involves headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or spending two days in isolation 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 their idol.
Essentially, we exist in a landscape full of imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The foremost Method Guy currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll to himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I recall [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘never intended to retire, really’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. All of this, in part, is meant to invoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
An Admirable But Uphill Fight
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps if he wishes to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making additional movies. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
