It has been quite some time since anyone caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, just before the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his legend has only grown.
The Legend Surrounding His Acting Method
Largely, this legend centers on his favored approach to roles. As someone known for disappears into the roles he plays – for example, while filming Lincoln, he had the director address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has grown more fascinated with his process. Is it true he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on receiving food via spoon for 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 at how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
To be honest, this sounds as if the actor has emerged from his retreat only to discover shocked by the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest performers in history, and your process includes striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will attempt to emulate that example by imitating your hero.
In other words, we exist in a landscape full of imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they invest in a character. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded to get a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a critical New Yorker profile, full of quotes from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember [him] making others to react with exasperation,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, truly’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply begin producing more films. Certainly we could all support that idea.
