🔗 Share this article

It has been a long while since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, just before the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his legend has only grown.

The Legend of His Method

Largely, this legend revolves around his preferred style of working. As someone who famously immerses himself in his characters – for example, during Lincoln, he had the director address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has grown more fascinated with his process. Did he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely game he hunted for Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?

Extreme acting methods: have we fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?

Now, Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and these elements always seem to involve some form of self-flagellation or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”

A World Full of Followers

To be honest, it appears like Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion and found himself shocked by the world that has developed in his image. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest actors in history, and your approach involves striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will attempt to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.

In other words, we exist in an environment full of imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the extensive degree of dedication they invest in a character. At the shallow end of this trend we have people like 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 transformed into functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” gifts to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life 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 during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“The toll to himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I recall him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).

The actor says he ‘never intended to retire, really’

We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.

An Admirable But Uphill Battle

And, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to alter perceptions, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps if he wishes to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just start making more films. Surely we could all get behind that.