🔗 Share this article

It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, just before the release of Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.

The Mythos Surrounding His Acting Method

Primarily, this reputation centers on his preferred style of working. As someone known for disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat animals he’d killed for The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?

Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?

Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is using this to vocalise his frustration regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “People often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and those details typically include some form of self-punishment or a situation that imposes upon oneself extreme unease 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, this sounds as if the actor has emerged from seclusion only to discover aghast at the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your process includes striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.

Essentially, we now live in a landscape full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to show the world the extensive degree of dedication they invest in a character. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native over 18 months as preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.

The Modern Followers of the Method

The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a critical magazine feature, including statements from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).

Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’

There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after the movie’s release. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his work.

A Noble But Uphill Battle

Moreover, while his fightback to critics of the Method could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to alter perceptions, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply begin producing more films. Surely everyone would get behind that.