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It has been quite some time since anyone saw or heard from Daniel Day-Lewis. Following his announcement in 2017 declaring he would no longer pursue acting, prior to the debut of The Phantom Thread, Day-Lewis quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his reputation has only grown.

The Legend of His Acting Method

Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. As someone known for disappears into his characters – for example, during the Lincoln biopic, he had the director address him as “Mr. President” for the entire production – audiences has grown increasingly obsessed with how he works. 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 for Last of the Mohicans? Did he demand being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?

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

Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned in the limelight, with some hesitation, for his new film Anemone. He is using this to express his frustration regarding how the Method technique is perceived. “I’m a little cross these days when I hear various individuals talking carelessly and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think suggests that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he told the New York Times. “People tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and these elements typically include some sort of self-punishment or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or mental instability. But of course, in the life of an actor, it has to principally be about the internal work.”

A World of Imitators

Frankly, this sounds like the actor has come out from seclusion only to discover shocked by the world that has been created in his image. If you’re widely considered one of the greatest performers to ever work, and your approach includes striking a prop until you break your nose (for Gangs of New York) or enduring 48 hours in solitary confinement without food or water (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will attempt to emulate that example by imitating their idol.

In other words, we now live in an environment full of imperfect imitators of Day-Lewis who want nothing more than to demonstrate the extensive degree of effort they put into a character. At the shallow end of the pool there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was determined to win an Oscar with House of Gucci that she spent the entire promotion trying to convince everyone that she became functionally Italian over 18 months as preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character of the Joker (for Suicide Squad) by sending “disturbing” gifts to his castmates. These items, according to various accounts, range from deceased animals to anal beads and used condoms, though Leto denied the most extreme claims. And then, of course, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon that filmmakers succeeded to get a full-length documentary from behind-the-scenes footage of him making life as impossible as he could for his colleagues.

The Modern Followers of the Method

The main practitioner of the Method at the moment seems to be Jeremy Strong (once an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose approach while filming Succession was so rigorously detailed that it became the basis of a critical magazine feature, full of quotes from individuals who were either concerned about his conduct (“The toll on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or extremely irritated by his actions (“I remember [him] making others roll their eyes,” said an anonymous cast member).

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

There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield went celibate over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio rested inside a dead animal 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 dedication with which Day-Lewis approaches his craft.

A Noble Yet Challenging Battle

Moreover, 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 practices. Maybe if he wishes to make audiences recall the true essence of the Method, or to show them its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply begin producing additional movies. Certainly we could all support that idea.