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It’s been a long while since the public caught a glimpse of Daniel Day-Lewis. After he announcement in 2017 that he would cease to pursue acting, just before the release of The Phantom Thread, the actor quietly faded from view. However, during his hiatus, his reputation expanded further.

The Mythos Surrounding His Method

Primarily, this reputation centers on his favored approach to roles. Being an actor known for immerses himself in the roles he plays – for example, while filming the Lincoln biopic, reportedly asked the director call him “Mr President” for the entire production – the world has become increasingly obsessed with his process. Is it true he really send texts to Sally Field as Abraham Lincoln? Did he only eat animals he’d killed during Last of the Mohicans? Did he insist on being spoon-fed for My Left Foot?

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Now, Daniel Day-Lewis has returned to public attention, somewhat reluctantly, for his new film Anemone. And he is taking this chance to vocalise his frustration regarding how method acting is viewed. “I’m a little cross nowadays when I hear all kinds of people gobbling off and using phrases like ‘gone full method’, which I think is meant to imply that a person’s behaving like a lunatic in a drastic way,” he stated to a major publication. “People tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and these elements 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 for a performer, it has to mainly focus on the inner transformation.”

An Industry Full of Followers

Frankly, it appears as if Day-Lewis has emerged from seclusion only to discover aghast at the world that has been created mirroring his methods. If you’re regarded as among the best actors to ever work, and your process includes headbutting a dummy until you break your nose (in Gangs of New York) or enduring two days in solitary confinement deprived of sustenance (for In the Name of the Father), then it stands to reason that fellow performers will want to fill that vacuum by imitating their idol.

Essentially, we exist in an environment populated by imperfect Day-Lewis impersonators who want nothing more than to demonstrate the sheer amount of dedication they put into their roles. On the milder side of this trend there are performers such as Lady Gaga, who was so desperate to win an Oscar for House of Gucci that she spent the whole campaign attempting to persuade people that she became an Italian native over 18 months in preparation.

Then we have Jared Leto, who decided to deeply embed himself in the character as the Joker (in Suicide Squad) by sending “horrifying” presents to fellow cast members. These items, according to various accounts, included deceased animals to intimate objects and used condoms, though the actor refuted those worst excesses. Then, naturally, there is Jim Carrey, who went so deep into Andy Kaufman during Man on the Moon that they literally managed in creating a feature-length documentary out of B-roll of him making life as impossible as he could for everyone around him.

Contemporary Followers of the Method

The main practitioner of the Method currently seems to be Jeremy Strong (formerly an assistant to Day-Lewis), whose process during Succession was so laboriously intensive that it formed the subject of a derisive New Yorker profile, full of quotes from individuals who were worried about his conduct (“It’s the cost on himself that worries me,” remarked Brian Cox) or annoyed beyond all measure by it (“I recall [him] making others to react with exasperation,” stated an unnamed co-star).

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There are so many other examples. Andrew Garfield abstained from sex over half a year while preparing for Silence. Leonardo DiCaprio slept in a dead animal for The Revenant. There’s a fighting chance that actor Austin Butler continues to talk in the style of Elvis, years following the movie’s release. Each of these instances, in part, aims to evoke the dedication in which Day-Lewis takes his craft.

A Noble But Uphill Fight

And, while his fightback to critics of the Method might be noble, a brief promotional cycle may prove insufficient to alter perceptions, let alone their behaviour. Perhaps if he wishes to remind people the true essence of the Method, or to demonstrate its potential results, then the optimal strategy for Day-Lewis is to simply start making more films. Surely we could all support that idea.