It has been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, just before the release of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Mythos Surrounding His Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. Being an actor known for disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown more fascinated with his process. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Madness in their method: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?
Currently, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to express his frustration at how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think suggests that a person’s acting insane in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone 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 career for a performer, it must mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
An Industry Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds like the actor has emerged from his retreat only to discover shocked by the world that has been created in his image. When you are widely considered one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your process includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (for 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.
In other words, we now live in a landscape full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they put into a character. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native over 18 months as preparation.
Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, though the actor refuted the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as 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 to the utmost for everyone around him.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The foremost Method Guy 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 critical magazine feature, 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 it (“I remember [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).
The actor claims he ‘never intended to retire, really’
We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
An Admirable But Uphill Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, 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 Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing more films. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
