It’s been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his preferred style of working. As someone who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat game he hunted for Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he stated to the New York Times. “People often concentrate on the less important aspects of acting, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or psychological strain. But of course, in the life of an actor, it must principally be about the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
Frankly, it appears as if Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat only to discover aghast at the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest actors in history, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will attempt to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we exist in an environment full of imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they put into their roles. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The main practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an unnamed co-star).
The actor says he ‘never intended to retire, really’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, years following the movie’s release. Each of these instances, to some extent, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his work.
An Admirable But Uphill Battle
Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing additional movies. Surely everyone would get behind that.
