🔗 Share this article The Renowned Actor Voices Frustration Over The Method Approach Being Equated to ‘Behaving Like a Lunatic’ – And That’s Precisely the Reason It Captivates Us It has been a long while since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to work as an actor, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his legend expanded further. The Mythos of His Method Primarily, this legend centers on his favored style of working. Being an actor who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during Lincoln, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has become more fascinated with how he works. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat game he hunted during Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot? Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with over-the-top performances? Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to express his anger at how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays to hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that someone is acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he told the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on superficial aspects of acting, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the career of an actor, it must principally be about the inner transformation.” An Industry Full of Followers Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat and found himself shocked by the world that has been created in his image. When you are widely considered among the best performers to ever work, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will attempt to emulate that example by imitating your hero. Functionally Italian … Lady Gaga in her role for House of Gucci. In other words, we exist in an environment full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of dedication they invest in a character. At the shallow end of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she transformed into functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation. Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who chose to deeply embed himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues. The Modern Method Practitioners The main practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were worried for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember him causing others roll their eyes,” said an unnamed co-star). The actor says he ‘never intended to retire, truly’ We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass 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, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his craft. A Noble But Uphill Fight And, 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 practices. Maybe if he wants to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would support that idea.