It’s been a long while since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Legend of His Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has become more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Now, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his frustration regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and those details typically include some sort of self-flagellation or a situation that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, it appears like Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat only to discover shocked by the world that has developed in his image. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest actors to ever work, and your process involves striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will attempt to emulate that example by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we now live in an environment full of imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they invest in their roles. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as 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 functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied those worst excesses. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a critical 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 annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” said an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks 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 takes his craft.
A Noble Yet Challenging Battle
Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making more films. Surely everyone would get behind that.
