It has been quite some time since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.
The Mythos of His Method
Primarily, this reputation revolves around his preferred style of working. Being an actor who famously disappears into his characters – for instance, while filming Lincoln, he had the director call him “Mr President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become more fascinated with his process. Is it true he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?
Now, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to express his anger at how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear various individuals gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-flagellation or an experience that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life of an actor, it has to principally be about the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, it appears as if the actor has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has developed in his image. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach involves striking a prop to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will attempt to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we exist in a landscape populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to show the world the extensive degree of effort they put into a character. At the shallow end of this trend we have people like 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 became an Italian native for a year and a half as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, although the actor refuted the most extreme claims. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for everyone around him.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The foremost Method Guy currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember him causing others to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Fight
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their practices. Perhaps if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing more films. Surely we could all get behind that.
