It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this reputation revolves around his favored style of working. As someone known for disappears into his characters – for example, during Lincoln, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is using this to express his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or a situation that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or psychological strain. But of course, in the career of an actor, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”
A World Full of Followers
To be honest, this sounds like Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion only to discover shocked by the acting community that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as among the best actors in history, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to emulate that example by imitating their idol.
Essentially, we exist in an environment populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she transformed into an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These, depending on who you ask, range from dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, although Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The foremost Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I recall him causing others to react with exasperation,” said an anonymous cast member).
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. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
An Admirable But Uphill Fight
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 remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just start making more films. Surely we could all support that idea.
