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It has been a long while since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his legend has only grown.

The Mythos of His Method

Largely, this reputation revolves around his preferred style of working. As someone who famously immerses himself in his characters – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, he had the director address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?

Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?

Now, Daniel Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his anger regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and these elements typically include some form of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the career of an actor, it must principally be about the inner transformation.”

An Industry of Imitators

Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat only to discover aghast at the world that has developed in his image. When you are regarded as among the best performers in history, and your process includes striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by imitating your hero.

In other words, we exist in a landscape full of imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of dedication they invest in a character. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award for House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.

Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, range from dead pigs and rats to anal beads and used condoms, although Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that they literally managed 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 practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it formed the subject of a derisive magazine feature, including statements from individuals who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll to himself concerns me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making others roll their eyes,” stated an unnamed co-star).

The actor claims he ‘did not plan to stop acting, really’

There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate for six months for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, three years after the movie’s release. Each of these instances, in part, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis approaches his work.

An Admirable But Uphill Battle

And, while his fightback to critics of the Method could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle might not be enough to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps if he wishes to make audiences recall what method acting is, or to show them what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just start making more films. Certainly we could all support that idea.