It’s been a long while since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would cease to work as an actor, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Largely, this reputation revolves around his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously disappears into his characters – for instance, while filming the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his anger regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I 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 acting insane in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the career of an actor, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
To be honest, it appears as if Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion and found himself aghast at the world that has been created in his image. If you’re widely considered among the best performers in history, and your process involves striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to emulate that example by imitating their idol.
In other words, we exist in a landscape populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the extensive degree of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to retire, truly’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following the movie’s release. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
A Noble Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing more films. Surely we could all get behind that.
