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It’s been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 that he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his reputation has only grown.

The Legend Surrounding His Acting Method

Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored style of working. As someone known for disappears into the roles he plays – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, he had Steven Spielberg call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has grown more fascinated with his process. Is it true he actually sent messages to co-star Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted for Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?

Madness in their method: has the public fallen out of love with actorly excess?

Now, Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his anger regarding how method acting is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told a major publication. “People often concentrate on superficial details of the work, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or a situation that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the life of an actor, it must mainly focus on the inner transformation.”

A World Full of Followers

Frankly, it appears like 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 in history, and your process involves headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic your hero.

Essentially, we exist in a landscape full of imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they put into their roles. On the milder side of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to intimate objects and personal hygiene products, although Leto denied those worst excesses. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.

Contemporary Followers of the Method

The main practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process 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 about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” said co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember [him] making everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an unnamed co-star).

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

We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal for The Revenant. It’s quite possible that Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his work.

A Noble But Uphill Battle

Moreover, 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. Maybe if he wishes to remind people what method acting is, or to show them its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing additional movies. Surely everyone would get behind that.