It’s been a long while since the public caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would cease to work as an actor, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.
The Legend of His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. As someone known for disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – the world has grown more fascinated 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 for Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: have we fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is taking this chance to express his frustration regarding how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things 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 tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or mental instability. But of course, in the career for a performer, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”
A World Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds like the actor has come out from seclusion and found himself aghast at the world that has been created in his image. When you are regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach involves headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by imitating their idol.
Essentially, we now live in a landscape populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she transformed into an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, although the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a critical magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘did not plan to stop acting, truly’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable But Uphill Fight
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing additional movies. Surely we could all get behind that.
