It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would no longer work as an actor, just before the release of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.
The Legend Surrounding His Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. As someone known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming Lincoln, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has become more fascinated with how he works. Did he actually sent 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 receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with actorly excess?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his frustration at how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told the New York Times. “People tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it has to principally be about the internal work.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds as if the actor has emerged from seclusion and found himself shocked by the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach includes 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 emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
Essentially, we now live in an environment populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they put into their roles. On the milder side of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” presents to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.
Contemporary Method Practitioners
The foremost Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to retire, truly’
There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following that film came out. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his work.
A Noble Yet Challenging Battle
And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour might not be enough to alter perceptions, let alone their practices. Maybe if he wants to remind people 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. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
