It has been a long while since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Largely, this legend centers on his preferred style of working. As someone who famously immerses himself in his characters – for example, during Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg call him “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has become more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he consumed solely game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is using this to express his frustration at how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “Everyone often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. However, in the career for a performer, it has to principally be about the internal work.”
An Industry of Imitators
Frankly, it appears like Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion and found himself aghast at the world that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered among the best actors in history, and your approach involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.
Essentially, we exist in a landscape populated by half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than 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 for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she transformed into functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a critical New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll on himself concerns me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I recall him causing others to react with exasperation,” said an unnamed co-star).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following the movie’s release. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Battle
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, let alone their practices. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply begin producing more films. Surely we could all support that idea.
