It has been a long while since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would no longer work as an actor, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.
The Mythos of His Acting Method
Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored style of working. As someone known for immerses himself in his characters – for instance, during Lincoln, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – the world has become more fascinated 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 for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?
Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?
Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration at how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days to hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems is meant to imply that someone is acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and these elements typically include some form of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life of an actor, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”
A World Full of Followers
Frankly, it appears like Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has been created in his image. If you’re widely considered among the best performers in history, and your approach involves striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic your hero.
Essentially, we now live in a landscape full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native 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) through sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. 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, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded to get a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.
The Modern Method Practitioners
The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).
The actor says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, truly’
There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass 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 in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.
An Admirable But Uphill Fight
And, although his rebuttal against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their practices. Perhaps if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making more films. Surely we could all support that idea.
