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It’s been quite some time since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his statement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. However, in his absence, his reputation expanded further.

The Mythos of His Acting Method

Largely, this legend centers on his favored approach to roles. As someone who famously immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, during Lincoln, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat 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 fallen out of love with actorly excess?

Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to vocalise his anger at how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days to hear various individuals 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 an extreme fashion,” he stated to the New York Times. “Everyone often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and those details typically include some form of self-flagellation or a situation that causes a severe discomfort or mental instability. However, in the career for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”

An Industry Full of Followers

Frankly, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has emerged from seclusion only to discover aghast at the acting community that has developed in his image. When you are regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your process includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending 48 hours in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by imitating your hero.

Essentially, we exist in a landscape full of imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of effort they invest in a character. 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 as preparation.

Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “horrifying” gifts to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.

Contemporary Followers of the Method

The main Method Guy at the moment would appear to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll to himself concerns me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember [him] making others roll their eyes,” stated an unnamed co-star).

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

There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler still speaks in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. Each of these instances, to some extent, is meant to invoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his work.

An Admirable But Uphill Battle

And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, let alone their practices. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making more films. Certainly everyone would get behind that.