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It has been quite some time since the public caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, just before the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.

The Mythos Surrounding His Acting Method

Primarily, this reputation revolves around his preferred approach to roles. As someone known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he really send texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?

Extreme acting methods: have we fallen out of love with actorly excess?

Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to express his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear various individuals talking carelessly and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems is meant to imply that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the life of an actor, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”

A World Full of Followers

To be honest, it appears as if Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion and found himself aghast at the world that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are regarded as among the best actors to ever work, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to emulate that example by imitating 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 extensive degree of dedication they invest in a character. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native for a year and a half in preparation.

Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.

The Modern Followers of the Method

The foremost practitioner of the Method currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll to himself that worries me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember him causing others roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star).

Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘never intended to stop acting, 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. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, in part, is meant to invoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis takes his work.

A Noble But Uphill Battle

And, while his fightback against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. 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 just start making more films. Certainly we could all get behind that.