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It’s been quite some time since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his reputation has only grown.

The Mythos Surrounding His Acting Method

Primarily, this legend centers on his favored approach to roles. Being an actor known for disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, he had the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed for Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?

Madness in their method: have we lost interest with actorly excess?

Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is using this to vocalise his frustration at how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “People often concentrate on superficial aspects of acting, and those details typically include some form of self-flagellation or an experience that causes a severe discomfort 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 like Day-Lewis has come out from seclusion only to discover shocked by the acting community that has been created in his image. When you are regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach involves striking a prop to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic their idol.

In other words, we exist in a landscape full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she transformed into functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character of the Joker (in 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 Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him causing difficulties to the utmost for everyone around him.

Contemporary Followers of the Method

The foremost Method Guy at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a derisive magazine feature, full of quotes from people who were worried for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).

Daniel Day-Lewis claims he ‘never intended to stop acting, truly’

We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal 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, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.

A Noble But Uphill Fight

And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their practices. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply begin producing additional movies. Surely everyone would support that idea.