It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would cease to work as an actor, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his legend has only grown.
The Legend of His Acting Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. Being an actor known for disappears into his characters – for example, while filming Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he consumed solely game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?
Currently, Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration at how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays when I hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think suggests that someone is acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and these elements always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the life of an actor, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
Frankly, this sounds like the actor has come out from seclusion only to discover shocked by the acting community that has been created in his image. When you are widely considered among the best performers to ever work, and your approach involves striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic their idol.
Essentially, we now live in a landscape full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they put into their roles. At the shallow end of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half in preparation.
Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for everyone around him.
Contemporary Followers of the Method
The main practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the basis of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an anonymous cast member).
The actor claims he ‘never intended to retire, really’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.
A Noble But Uphill Fight
And, while his fightback to critics of the Method could be commendable, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making more films. Certainly everyone would get behind that.
