It’s been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his preferred approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, while filming Lincoln, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown more fascinated with his process. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely game he hunted for Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Now, Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his anger at how the Method technique is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “People tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and these elements typically include some form of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the career of an actor, it must principally be about the internal work.”
A World of Imitators
To be honest, this sounds like Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat only to discover shocked by the acting community that has been created in his image. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest actors in history, and your approach involves striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we exist in an environment full of imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the extensive degree of effort they invest in a character. At the shallow end of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she transformed into an Italian native for a year and a half in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, though the actor refuted the most extreme claims. Then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a derisive magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember him causing others to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, 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 just start making more films. Certainly we could all support that idea.
