It’s been a long while since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 that he would no longer work as an actor, just before the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Legend of His Acting Method
Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored style of working. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to express his anger regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear various individuals gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that someone is acting insane in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and these elements always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life of an actor, it must principally be about the internal work.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, it appears like the actor has come out from his retreat and found himself shocked by the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as one of the greatest performers in history, and your process involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in solitary confinement 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 your hero.
Essentially, we exist in a landscape populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they put into their roles. On the milder side 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 became functionally Italian for a year and a half in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I recall [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).
The actor says he ‘never intended to retire, really’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after the movie’s release. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
An Admirable But Uphill Battle
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making additional movies. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
