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It’s been quite some time since the public saw or heard from the acclaimed actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would cease to pursue acting, just before the debut of Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. Yet, in his absence, his reputation has only grown.

The Mythos of His Method

Primarily, this reputation revolves around his favored style of working. Being an actor known for disappears into his characters – for instance, while filming the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked Steven Spielberg address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – the world has grown increasingly obsessed with his process. Did he really send messages to co-star Sally Field in character as Lincoln? Did he consumed solely animals he’d killed during The Last of the Mohicans? And did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?

Madness in their method: has the public lost interest with actorly excess?

Currently, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is taking this chance to express his anger at how the Method technique is viewed. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear various individuals gobbling off and saying things like ‘fully embraced the Method’, which seems suggests that a person’s acting insane in an extreme fashion,” he stated to a major publication. “People tends to focus on superficial details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or a situation that imposes upon oneself extreme unease or psychological strain. But of course, in the career of an actor, it must mainly focus on the inner transformation.”

A World Full of Followers

Frankly, it appears as if the actor has come out from seclusion only to discover aghast at the world that has been created in his image. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest actors to ever work, and your approach includes striking a prop until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or spending two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (during In the Name of the Father), it’s natural that fellow performers will want to emulate that example by trying to mimic your hero.

Essentially, we exist in a landscape populated by imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who strive only to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they put into a character. At the shallow end of the pool we have people like Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to earn an Academy Award with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian for a year and a half as preparation.

Additionally, there is Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself into the role of the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” presents to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to anal beads 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 they succeeded to get a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life to the utmost for his colleagues.

Contemporary Followers of the Method

The main Method Guy currently would appear to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, including statements from people who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost to himself concerns me,” said Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by his actions (“I remember him causing others to react with exasperation,” said an anonymous cast member).

Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘did not plan to retire, really’

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

A Noble But Uphill Fight

And, while his fightback against method detractors might be noble, a short publicity tour might not be enough to alter perceptions, not to mention their practices. Maybe if he wants to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then Day-Lewis’s best bet is to simply start making more films. Surely everyone would get behind that.