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It’s been a long while since anyone caught a glimpse of the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. After he statement in 2017 declaring he would no longer pursue acting, just before the debut of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.

The Mythos Surrounding His Acting Method

Largely, this legend centers on his preferred approach to roles. As someone who famously disappears into the roles he plays – for instance, during Lincoln, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. Did he really send texts to Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Was it accurate that he only eat game he hunted for Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand receiving food via spoon for My Left Foot?

Extreme acting methods: have we lost interest with actorly excess?

Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, promoting his latest movie Anemone. He is using this to express his anger regarding how the Method technique is viewed. “I am somewhat annoyed nowadays to hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that someone is behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion,” he stated to the New York Times. “Everyone tends to focus on the less important aspects of acting, and those details typically include some form of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or psychological strain. However, in the life for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the internal work.”

An Industry of Imitators

To be honest, this sounds as if Day-Lewis has emerged from his retreat only to discover shocked by the acting community that has developed mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as one of the greatest actors to ever work, and your process includes striking a prop to the point of injury (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in isolation 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 an environment populated by half-cocked imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they invest in a character. On the milder side of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign trying to convince everyone that she transformed into functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to immerse himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) through sending “disturbing” presents to fellow cast members. These, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to anal beads and personal hygiene products, though the actor refuted the most extreme claims. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep as Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they succeeded in creating a feature-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.

The Modern Followers of the Method

The foremost 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 subject of a critical New Yorker profile, including statements from individuals who were either concerned about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I remember [him] making others to react with exasperation,” said an anonymous cast member).

Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘did not plan to stop acting, truly’

There are numerous additional cases. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex for six months while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal during The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that Austin Butler continues to talk like Elvis Presley, three years after that film came out. All of this, to some extent, aims to evoke the dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.

An Admirable But Uphill Battle

And, although his rebuttal to critics of the Method could be commendable, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to change anyone’s mind, not to mention their practices. Perhaps if he wants to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to just begin producing more films. Surely everyone would get behind that.