It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Primarily, this reputation revolves around his favored style of working. As someone known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: have we fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to express his frustration at how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear various individuals gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “People often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the life of an actor, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
To be honest, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion and found himself aghast at the acting community that has developed in his image. When you are widely considered among the best actors in history, and your approach involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will attempt to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic their idol.
In other words, we now live in an environment full of imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they invest in a character. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, though the actor refuted the most extreme claims. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed in creating a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a derisive magazine feature, including statements from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘never intended to retire, truly’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis takes his work.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to alter perceptions, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
