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It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further.

The Legend of His Method

Primarily, this legend revolves around his preferred style of working. Being an actor known for disappears into the roles he plays – for example, while filming Lincoln, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he consumed solely game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?

Madness in their method: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances?

Currently, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to vocalise his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “People often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and these elements always seem to involve some form of self-punishment or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”

A World of Imitators

To be honest, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has emerged from seclusion and found himself aghast at the world that has been created mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest performers in history, and your process involves striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic their idol.

In other words, we now live in an environment full of half-cocked 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 the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she transformed into functionally Italian for a year and a half in preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, although the actor refuted the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for everyone around him.

The Modern Method Practitioners

The foremost practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a derisive magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“The toll on himself that worries me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).

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

There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, to some extent, aims to evoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis takes his work.

A Noble Yet Challenging Battle

Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making additional movies. Certainly we could all get behind that.