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It’s been a long while since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 declaring he would no longer work as an actor, prior to the release of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis withdrew from the spotlight. Yet, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.

The Legend of His Method

Primarily, this reputation centers on his preferred style of working. As someone who famously immerses himself in his characters – for instance, during the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director address him as “Mr. President” throughout the shoot – audiences has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he consumed solely animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? And did he demand receiving food via spoon while filming My Left Foot?

Extreme acting methods: has the public fallen out of love with over-the-top performances?

Now, Day-Lewis is back in the limelight, somewhat reluctantly, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his anger regarding how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross these days to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and these elements typically include some sort of self-punishment or a situation that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or mental instability. However, in the career for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”

A World of Imitators

Frankly, this sounds like Day-Lewis has come out from his retreat and found himself aghast at the acting community that has been created in his image. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest actors in history, and your approach includes striking a prop until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in isolation deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will attempt to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.

In other words, we now live in a landscape populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who strive only to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they put into a character. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion attempting to persuade people that she became functionally Italian over 18 months in preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself into the role as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” presents to his castmates. These, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. Then, of course, we have Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed to get a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him causing difficulties to the utmost for everyone around him.

The Modern Method Practitioners

The main practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach during Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were either concerned for his behaviour (“It’s the cost to himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember [him] making everyone else to react with exasperation,” stated an anonymous cast member).

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

There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler still speaks like Elvis Presley, years following that film came out. All of this, in part, aims to evoke the seriousness with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.

An Admirable Yet Challenging Battle

And, while his fightback against method detractors might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate what it can achieve, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply begin producing more films. Surely everyone would support that idea.