It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Legend Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this legend centers on his favored approach to roles. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during Lincoln, he had the director call him “Mr President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown 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? Did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his anger at how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and these elements typically include some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. However, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
To be honest, this sounds as if the actor has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the acting community that has developed in his image. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic their idol.
Essentially, we now live in an environment populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as 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.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to his castmates. These items, depending on who you ask, included dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, though Leto denied those worst excesses. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost Method Guy at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a derisive magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making others roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor claims he ‘never intended to retire, really’
We have 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 actor Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Fight
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour might not be enough to alter perceptions, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
