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It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the debut of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.

The Mythos of His Acting Method

Primarily, this reputation revolves around his favored style of working. Being an actor known for immerses himself in his characters – for example, during Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown more fascinated with his process. Did he really send texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?

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

Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. And he is using this to express his anger at how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that someone is acting insane in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “People often concentrate on superficial aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some form of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. However, in the life for a performer, it has to principally be about the internal work.”

An Industry Full of Followers

Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion and found himself shocked by the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach includes striking a prop to the point of injury (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 want to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.

In other words, we now live in a landscape populated by half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of effort they invest in a character. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign 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 into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for everyone around him.

The Modern Method Practitioners

The main practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost on himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I recall [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).

Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘did not plan to retire, really’

There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after the movie’s release. Each of these instances, in part, aims to evoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis takes his work.

An Admirable But Uphill Battle

Moreover, while his fightback against method detractors might be noble, a short publicity tour might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, let alone their behaviour. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making additional movies. Certainly we could all support that idea.