It’s been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor known for disappears into his characters – for instance, during Lincoln, he had the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become more fascinated with how he works. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back 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 all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “People tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and those details typically include some form of self-flagellation or a situation that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life of an actor, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has emerged from seclusion only to discover aghast at the world that has been created in his image. If you’re regarded as among the best performers in history, and your process involves headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic their idol.
Essentially, we now live in a landscape populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the extensive degree of dedication they invest in their roles. On the milder side of this trend we have people like 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 in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, depending on who you ask, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though the actor refuted the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The foremost practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a critical New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I recall [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).
The actor says he ‘never intended to stop acting, really’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year while preparing 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 the movie’s release. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable But Uphill Battle
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Perhaps if he wants to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly we could all support that idea.
