It’s been quite some time since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his legend has only grown.
The Legend Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this reputation revolves around his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor known for disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Is it true he really send texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his anger at how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that someone is acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “People often concentrate on the less important aspects of acting, and those details typically include some sort of self-flagellation or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, it appears like Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat only to discover aghast at the acting community that has been created in his image. When you are widely considered among the best performers to ever work, and your process involves striking a prop to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic their idol.
Essentially, we exist in an environment populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the extensive degree of dedication they invest in a character. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, though Leto denied those worst excesses. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The foremost Method Guy at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to retire, truly’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle
Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors might be noble, a short publicity tour might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, let alone their practices. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making more films. Surely we could all support that idea.
