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It’s been a long while since the public saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 declaring he would no longer pursue acting, just before the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his legend has only grown.

The Legend of His Acting Method

Largely, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, while filming Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?

Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with actorly excess?

Currently, Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. And he is using this to express his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he told a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on the less important aspects of acting, and these elements typically include some form of self-punishment or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the life of an actor, it must mainly focus on the internal work.”

A World of Imitators

Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat and found himself aghast at the world that has been created in his image. If you’re widely considered among the best performers to ever work, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic their idol.

Essentially, we now live in an environment full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of effort they invest in their roles. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became an Italian native over 18 months as preparation.

Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These, depending on who you ask, range from dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.

Contemporary Method Practitioners

The main practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a derisive magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“The toll on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I remember [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).

The actor says he ‘never intended to stop acting, really’

We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. All of this, in part, is meant to invoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis takes his work.

A Noble But Uphill Fight

And, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing more films. Surely everyone would support that idea.