It’s been a long while since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, just before the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. Being an actor known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg call him “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has grown more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Now, Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his frustration regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and these elements typically include some sort of self-flagellation or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, it appears like Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has been created in his image. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic their idol.
In other words, we now live in a landscape full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they put into their roles. At the shallow end of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a critical magazine feature, including statements from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I recall him causing everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to stop acting, really’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
And, while his fightback to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour might not be enough to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making additional movies. Certainly we could all support that idea.