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It has been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. Yet, during his hiatus, his legend has only grown.

The Legend Surrounding His Acting Method

Largely, this reputation revolves around his preferred approach to roles. Being an actor known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, during Lincoln, he had the director call him “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown more fascinated with his process. Is it true he really send 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 being spoon-fed while filming My Left Foot?

Extreme acting methods: have we fallen out of love with actorly excess?

Now, Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his anger at how method acting is perceived. “I am somewhat annoyed these days to hear all kinds of people talking carelessly and saying things like ‘gone full method’, which seems is meant to imply that someone is behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “Everyone often concentrate on the less important details of the work, and those details typically include some sort of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the life of an actor, it must mainly focus on the inner transformation.”

A World Full of Followers

Frankly, this sounds like the actor has emerged from seclusion only to discover shocked by the acting community that has been created in his image. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach includes headbutting a dummy to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that other actors will want to fill that vacuum by trying to mimic their idol.

Essentially, we exist in a landscape full of half-cocked Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to show the world the sheer amount of effort they put into their roles. At the shallow end of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she dedicated the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself into the role as the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, although the actor refuted the most extreme claims. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties as impossible as he could for his colleagues.

The Modern Followers of the Method

The main Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once Day-Lewis’s assistant), whose approach while filming Succession was so laboriously intensive that it became the subject of a derisive magazine feature, including statements from people who were worried about his conduct (“The toll to himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by it (“I recall him causing everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).

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

We have numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside 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, in part, is meant to invoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis takes his craft.

A Noble Yet Challenging 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. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to show them what it can achieve, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just start making additional movies. Certainly we could all support that idea.