The Renowned Actor Expresses Annoyance Over Method Acting Being Compared to ‘Behaving Like a Lunatic’ – And That’s Precisely the Reason It Captivates Us

It has been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.

The Mythos of His Acting Method

Primarily, this legend revolves around his preferred style of working. Being an actor known for disappears into the roles he plays – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown more fascinated with his process. Is it true he really send texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed for The Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?

Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?

Currently, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. And he is using this to vocalise his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that someone is acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or a situation that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the career for a performer, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”

An Industry of Imitators

Frankly, it appears like Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat only to discover aghast at the world that has been created mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as among the best actors to ever work, and your approach involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.

Essentially, we exist in a landscape populated by half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native over 18 months as preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These items, depending on who you ask, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, although Leto denied those worst excesses. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.

Contemporary Method Practitioners

The main practitioner of the Method at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” said an unnamed co-star).

The actor claims he ‘did not plan to retire, truly’

There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis approaches his work.

A Noble But Uphill Battle

Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors could be commendable, a short publicity tour might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just start making additional movies. Surely we could all get behind that.