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It’s been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would cease to work as an actor, prior to the debut of Phantom Thread, the actor withdrew from the spotlight. However, during his hiatus, his reputation has only grown.

The Mythos Surrounding His Method

Primarily, this legend revolves around his favored approach to roles. As someone known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, he had the director address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he actually sent texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he only eat game he hunted during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?

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

Currently, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. And he is using this to express his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems suggests 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 these elements typically include some form of self-flagellation or a situation that causes extreme unease or mental instability. But of course, in the career for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”

A World of Imitators

Frankly, it appears like the actor has emerged from his retreat only to discover shocked by the world that has developed in his image. When you are widely considered among the best actors to ever work, and your process includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (for Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement without food or water (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.

In other words, we exist in a landscape full of half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to show the world the sheer amount of effort they invest in their roles. At the shallow end of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she transformed into an Italian native for a year and a half in preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” gifts to his castmates. These, depending on who you ask, included dead pigs and rats to intimate objects and used condoms, although Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who immersed himself so fully as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a full-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.

The Modern Followers of the Method

The foremost Method Guy at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose process during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the basis of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from individuals who were either concerned for his behaviour (“The toll on himself that worries me,” remarked co-star Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I recall him causing everyone else roll their eyes,” stated an unnamed co-star).

Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to stop acting, really’

We have so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal during The Revenant. It’s quite possible that actor Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, three years after that film came out. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the seriousness in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.

A Noble Yet Challenging Fight

And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method might be noble, a short publicity tour may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, not to mention their behaviour. Perhaps if he wants to remind people what method acting is, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to just begin producing additional movies. Certainly everyone would get behind that.