It has been quite some time since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Largely, this legend revolves around his preferred style of working. As someone known for disappears into his characters – for example, while filming Lincoln, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he really send texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat game he hunted for The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on 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 in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his anger regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days to hear various individuals gobbling off and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it must principally be about the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, this sounds like the actor has come out from his retreat and found himself shocked by the world that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered one of the greatest actors in history, and your process includes striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to emulate that example by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we now live in an environment full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to show the world the extensive degree of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion attempting to persuade people 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 (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These, depending on who you ask, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The foremost Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a critical magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“The toll to himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Battle
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Perhaps if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Surely everyone would support that idea.
