It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.
The Legend of His Method
Largely, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. Being an actor known for disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he consumed solely game he hunted for The Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his anger at 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 a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “People tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the career of an actor, it has to principally be about the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, this sounds as if the actor has come out from seclusion only to discover shocked by the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as one of the greatest actors in history, and your approach involves striking a prop until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic your hero.
Essentially, we now live in a landscape populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they invest in a character. At the shallow end of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native for a year and a half in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The foremost practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor says he ‘did not plan to retire, really’
There are 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. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following the movie’s release. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Battle
Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing more films. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
