It has been a long while since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, during his hiatus, his legend has only grown.
The Mythos Surrounding His Acting Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his preferred style of working. As someone known for disappears into his characters – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, he had the director address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – the world has grown more fascinated with his process. Did 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 Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his anger at how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that someone is acting insane in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “People tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or an experience that causes a severe discomfort or psychological strain. But of course, in the life for a performer, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, this sounds as if the actor has come out from his retreat and found himself shocked by the world that has been created mirroring his methods. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your process involves striking a prop to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to emulate that example by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we exist in an environment populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These items, depending on who you ask, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a derisive magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember him causing 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 abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Fight
Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour might not be enough to alter perceptions, let alone their practices. Perhaps if he wishes to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to show them what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just start making additional movies. Certainly we could all get behind that.
