Summary
- Daniel Day-Lewis's extreme method acting included becoming ill, living in solitary confinement, and training extensively for roles.
- Immersing himself in his characters led to creating captivating and unforgettable performances throughout his career.
- From refusing modern medicine and catching pneumonia to learning Czech and living in the wilderness, Daniel Day-Lewis's dedication was unparalleled.
Daniel Day-Lewis's method acting has become legendary throughout his career and added to his reputation as one of the greatest actors of all time. While the method acting process is a controversial one, with some suggesting it is an excuse for actors to act selfish and rude for the sake of their art, Day-Lewis is regarded as a considerate collaborator who happens to immerse himself in his roles in intense ways. Along with creating some incredible performances, Day-Lewis' methods have resulted in some fascinating stories of his dedication to truly living a part.
Daniel Day-Lewis is truly a one-of-a-kind artist, as he was willing to catch pneumonia and lock himself in solitary confinement in the name of bettering his performances. With three Oscar wins to his name, the extremes Day-Lewis has gone through in his best movies have certainly seemed worth it. However, looking at some of the choices, they range from dedicated to concerning to downright dangerous. Nevertheless, Daniel Day-Lewis has left behind some engrossing performances as well as plenty of legends about shaping these roles.
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10 Immersed Himself In 17th Century Puritan Life For The Crucible
Day-Lewis Plays John Proctor
As most of Daniel Day-Lewis' movies were period pieces, the actor often found it necessary to acquaint himself with the daily life of the time period. Such was the case with the adaptation of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible which is about a 17th-century Puritan community in which jealousy and hatred result in malicious accusations which fuel the infamous Salem Witch Hunt. Day-Lewis plays John Proctor, a farmer who finds himself in the middle of the scandal.
Day-Lewis met his future wife Rebecca Miller, daughter of Arther Miller, on the set.
According to EW, Day-Lewis arrived on the island where the movie was going to be filmed and lived there as a farmer for two months before cameras even started to roll. It was even reported that he refused to bathe over the course of the shoot. However, costar Charlayne Woodard found his approach charming and impressive:
"When they said ‘Cut,’ he didn’t just go to craft services and eat some jelly beans. He would sit on something and take out an old knife and start whittling a piece of wood."
9 Learned Czech For The Unbearable Lightness Of Being
Day-Lewis Plays Tomas
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is such an ambiguous title that not only doesn't explain the movie, but it's generally a random non-sequitur too. However, the movie is a fantastic drama about Prague Spring, which was a mass protest when Communists were being suppressed in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s.
In the movie, Day-Lewis plays Tomas, a Czechoslovakian brain surgeon, and he learned to speak the language fluently. According to The Guardian, the seasoned actor learned the native language because he didn't want to do what most actors do when playing a foreign character, which is speaking American-English in a foreign accent.
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8 Locked Himself In Solitary Confinement For In The Name Of The Father
Day-Lewis Plays Gerry Conlon
In the Name of the Father follows four men who were wrongly convicted of bombing several pubs in Guildford, England during the Troubles, which killed four British soldiers. Day-Lewis plays Gerry Conlon, one of these men, who was put through hell when he was convicted.
He also forced the crew to throw cold water over him whenever they ed by.
According to the drastic weight loss Christian Bale had become known for in his movies.
7 Living In The Woods For The Last Of The Mohicans
Day-Lewis Plays Hawkeye
Set in the 18th century, The Last of the Mohicans is a rather unique war movie, as it tells the story of the French and Indian War in the 1750s. The war was brutal, and the 1992 movie depicts the battles in true graphic detail. Day-Lewis put in as much effort to truly capture the events as director Michael Mann.
Day-Lewis also trained with the U.S. Army for weapons and combat skills.
The actor lived in the woods of North Carolina, but it wasn't just for three days like his solitary confinement for In the Name of the Father. According to The New York Times, Day-Lewis spent a whole month in the wilderness, and in that time, he learned to hunt and skin animals, fight with tomahawks, and run and gun with a heavy 12-pound flintlock.
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6 Spent Time In A Cerebral Palsy Clinic For My Left Foot
Day-Lewis Plays Christy Brown
My Left Foot
Cast
Daniel Day-Lewis
Ray McAnally-
Brenda Fricker
- Release Date
- February 24, 1989
- Runtime
- 103 Minutes
- Director
- Jim Sheridan
In My Left Foot, Day-Lewis plays Christie Brown, a writer and artist who had cerebral palsy and could only use his left foot. To prepare for the role, the actor visited a cerebral palsy clinic to understand people who suffered from the condition, but he soon took preparations to the next level.
According to Esquire, Day-Lewis once again subjected the crew to be a part of his extreme method of acting. The crew was forced to feed him his food, just as Brown was fed, and they even carried him between sets too. Day-Lewis would also visit restaurants in his wheelchair and act like Brown off-screen. However, it was all just to give the best possible performance he could, which earned him his first Oscar and has gone down as one of Day-Lewis' best movies.
5 Learned Boxing For 18 Months For The Boxer
Day-Lewis Plays Danny Flynn
Like most boxing movies, The Boxer is a sports drama led by a character who uses the sport to focus on something other than a criminal life. Day-Lewis plays Danny Flynn, a former IRA member, and to get into the role, he trained with professional boxers in Ireland for over a year.
It wasn't just anybody that Day-Lewis trained with, but it was Conor McGregor's very own coach, Barry McGuigan.
According to Talk Sport, it wasn't just anybody that Day-Lewis trained with, but it was Conor McGregor's very own coach, Barry McGuigan. After this intense role, Day-Lewis wouldn't return to acting until five years later with Gangs of New York.
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Many actors take method acting too far. Some have spent a months in wheelchairs, while others have done even crazier things to perfect their craft.
4 Made Everyone On Set Of Lincoln Refer To Him As "Mr. President"
Day-Lewis Plays Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln
Cast
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
David Strathairn
- Release Date
- November 9, 2012
- Runtime
- 150minutes
- Director
- Steven Spielberg
Daniel Day-Lewis has always made everyone on set call him by his character name, no matter what movie it was, and out of all of the extreme ways he has gotten into character, it doesn't sound all that strange. However, when playing Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln, he literally made the cast and crew call him "Mr. President." According to Daily Mail, even director Steven Spielberg was held to that same standard too. Apparently, this went on for the entire length of production, and the celebrated actor didn't break character for three months.
Liam Neeson was initially cast as Abraham Lincoln.
3 Refused To Wear A Winter Coat And Caught Pneumonia For Gangs Of New York
Day-Lewis Plays Bill The Butcher
Method acting is one thing, but getting into character to the point of catching pneumonia is something else entirely. Gangs of New York saw Day-Lewis come out of retirement, and he plays a role unlike any of his others, the vicious and vulgar murderer Bill the Butcher.
However, according to where Gangs of New York was filmed. However, then the actor doubled down by refusing to take modern medicine. According to the article, the actor very nearly died.
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2 Learning Dressmaking For Two Years For Phantom Thread
Day-Lewis Plays Reynolds Woodcock
Phantom Thread
Cast
-
Daniel Day-Lewis
-
Camilla Rutherford
-
Vicky Krieps
- Release Date
- December 25, 2017
- Runtime
- 131 minutes
- Director
- Paul Thomas Anderson
Phantom Thread is the latest and final movie with Day-Lewis in the lead role, as he has once again retired, but this time, it looks like it's for good. However, though the movie was a modest success, the actor went out with his signature intense style.
As Phantom Thread follows a 1950s dressmaker who falls in love with a server, it's still so detailed. For the movie, according to Slash Film, Day-Lewis spent a whole year as an apprentice for Marc Happel, the head of the New York Ballet's costume department, and he even learned how to make a Balenciaga dress from scratch.
1 Learning To Touch His Glass Eye With A Knife In Gangs Of New York
Day-Lewis Plays Bill The Butcher
As if catching pneumonia and coming dangerously close to death wasn't enough, Day-Lewis learned somewhat of a party trick that was unsettling for a lot of his costars on the set of Gangs of New York. According to The Baltimore Sun, instead of simply using a ghoulish-looking lens as most actors would, for Bill the Butcher's glass eye, the actor used prosthetic glass.
Daniel Day-Lewis even learned how to tap on his eye with the end of a knife without blinking
Not only does it look more authentic, but Daniel Day-Lewis even learned how to tap on his eye with the end of a knife without blinking. This can be seen in the movie, and the way it sounds, as well as how it looks, isn't for the faint of heart.
