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

The Legend Surrounding His Acting Method

Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into his characters – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown more fascinated with his process. Did he really send texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely game he hunted during Last of the Mohicans? And 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, Daniel Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is using this to express his frustration regarding how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone often concentrate on the less important aspects of acting, and those details typically include some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the life for a performer, it must principally be about the internal work.”

An Industry of Imitators

To be honest, it appears as if the actor has come out from seclusion only to discover aghast at the world that has been created in his image. When you are regarded as one of the greatest actors in history, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to emulate that example by imitating their idol.

Essentially, we now live in a landscape full of imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of effort they put into their roles. At the shallow end of this trend we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she dedicated the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native for a year and a half in preparation.

Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though the actor refuted the most extreme claims. And then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed to get a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.

Contemporary Method Practitioners

The foremost practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from people who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll on himself that worries me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember him causing others to react with exasperation,” said an anonymous cast member).

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

There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. Each of these instances, in part, aims to evoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis takes his work.

An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle

Moreover, although his rebuttal against method detractors could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wants to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making additional movies. Certainly we could all get behind that.