It has been quite some time since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, during his hiatus, his reputation has only grown.
The Legend of His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for example, while filming Lincoln, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become more fascinated with his process. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is using this to vocalise his frustration regarding how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear various individuals gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he stated to the New York Times. “Everyone often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and these elements typically include some form of self-flagellation or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or mental instability. However, in the life of an actor, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”
A World of Imitators
Frankly, it appears as if the actor has come out from seclusion only to discover aghast at the acting community that has been created in his image. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest actors in history, and your process includes striking a prop to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in isolation without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will attempt to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic their idol.
In other words, we exist in an environment full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the extensive degree of dedication they invest in a character. At the shallow end of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became 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) by sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These items, depending on who you ask, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The foremost practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the basis of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll to himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I recall him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘did not plan to retire, truly’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass during 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 with which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Perhaps if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to show them its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing more films. Certainly we could all support that idea.
