It’s been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, just before the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Acting Method
Largely, this legend centers on his favored style of working. As someone known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during Lincoln, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his anger regarding how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he stated to the New York Times. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial 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 life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat only to discover shocked by the world that has developed mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as among the best performers in history, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will attempt to emulate that example by trying to mimic their idol.
Essentially, we exist in an environment populated by half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These, depending on who you ask, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, although the actor refuted the most extreme claims. Then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed in creating a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The main Method Guy currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to retire, truly’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. Each of these instances, in part, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable Yet Challenging Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
