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It has been a long while since anyone saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, just before the release of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his reputation has only grown.

The Mythos of His Acting Method

Largely, this reputation centers on his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – the world has become more fascinated with his process. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?

Extreme acting methods: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?

Currently, Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross nowadays to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which I think suggests that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “People often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and those details typically include some form of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or mental instability. However, in the career for a performer, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”

An Industry Full of Followers

Frankly, this sounds like the actor has come out from his retreat only to discover aghast at the world that has developed mirroring his methods. When you are widely considered among the best actors to ever work, and your approach involves headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in solitary confinement without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic their idol.

In other words, we exist in a landscape populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they put into their roles. At the shallow end of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.

Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. And then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for his colleagues.

Contemporary Method Practitioners

The foremost Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).

Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to retire, truly’

We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, three years after the movie’s release. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.

An Admirable But Uphill Fight

And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing more films. Certainly everyone would support that idea.