It’s been a long while since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his legend expanded further.
The Legend of His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into his characters – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has grown more fascinated with his process. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is using this to vocalise his frustration at how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear various individuals gobbling off and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think suggests that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and these elements typically include some form of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or psychological strain. However, in the career for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion and found himself shocked by the world that has been created in his image. When you are regarded as one of the greatest actors in history, and your process involves 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 fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.
Essentially, we now live in a landscape full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of dedication they put into their roles. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, although the actor refuted the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Followers of the Method
The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll on himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making others roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).
The actor says he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, three years after the movie’s release. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
An Admirable But Uphill Battle
Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.
