It’s been quite some time since anyone caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his legend expanded further.
The Legend Surrounding His Acting Method
Largely, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, he had the director address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Is it true he really send 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 demand being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with actorly excess?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his frustration regarding how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on the less important aspects of acting, and these elements typically include some form of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the career of an actor, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”
An Industry Full of Followers
To be honest, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has emerged from seclusion only to discover shocked by the world that has been created in his image. If you’re widely considered among the best actors to ever work, and your process involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.
In other words, we exist in a landscape populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they invest in their roles. 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 dedicated the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she became functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. 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, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The main practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to stop acting, truly’
We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after the movie’s release. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
A Noble But Uphill Fight
Moreover, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making more films. Surely we could all support that idea.
