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It has been a long while since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, just before the release of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.

The Mythos of His Method

Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in his characters – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – the world has become more fascinated with how he works. Is it true he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?

Madness in their method: have we fallen out of love with actorly excess?

Currently, Day-Lewis is back to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his anger regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to 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-flagellation or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or mental instability. But of course, in the career for a performer, it must principally be about the internal work.”

A World of Imitators

Frankly, this sounds as if the actor has come out from his retreat only to discover shocked by the acting community that has been created in his image. When you are widely considered one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your process includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement 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 imitating their idol.

In other words, we exist in an environment populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they put into a character. At the shallow end of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.

Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, depending on who you ask, range from deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, though Leto denied those worst excesses. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.

Contemporary Followers of the Method

The main practitioner of the Method at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).

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

There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside an animal carcass during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. All of this, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.

An Admirable But Uphill Battle

Moreover, 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 behaviour. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing more films. Certainly we could all support that idea.