🔗 Share this article

It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.

The Mythos of His Method

Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored style of working. As someone known for disappears into his characters – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, he had the director address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become more fascinated with his process. Did he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat 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 actorly excess?

Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration at how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial aspects of acting, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the career of an actor, it must principally be about the inner transformation.”

A World Full of Followers

To be honest, this sounds as if the actor has come out from seclusion and found himself shocked by the world that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered among the best actors in history, and your process includes striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will attempt to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.

Essentially, we exist in an environment full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the extensive degree of dedication they put into their roles. At the shallow end of this trend 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 trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native over 18 months as preparation.

Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, although Leto denied those worst excesses. And then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.

Contemporary Method Practitioners

The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember him causing everyone else to react with exasperation,” said an anonymous cast member).

Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’

We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. All of this, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his work.

A Noble Yet Challenging Fight

And, although his rebuttal against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to alter perceptions, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.