It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Legend Surrounding His Acting Method
Primarily, this reputation revolves around his preferred style of working. Being an actor known for disappears into his characters – for example, during Lincoln, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he really send texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is using this to express his anger at how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days to hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that causes a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the career for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry Full of Followers
To be honest, this sounds like the actor has emerged from his retreat and found himself shocked by the world that has been created in his image. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest actors in history, and your process involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we exist in a landscape populated by half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators 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 with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided 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 intimate objects and personal hygiene products, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The main Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll to himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors might be noble, a short publicity tour might not be enough to alter perceptions, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just start making more films. Surely we could all get behind that.
