It’s been quite some time since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation revolves around his preferred style of working. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – the world has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he really send texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: 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 taking this chance to express his frustration at how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told 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. However, 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 shocked by the world that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as among the best actors to ever work, and your approach includes striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic their idol.
Essentially, we now live in a landscape populated by half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they invest in a character. At the shallow end of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she transformed into an Italian native for a year and a half in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The main Method Guy currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to stop acting, really’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, three years after the movie’s release. All of this, in part, is meant to invoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal 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 make audiences recall what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply begin producing more films. Surely everyone would get behind that.
