The legendary actor said he's &34;a little cross these days&34; hearing people use the name of Konstantin Stanislavski's acting technique as a derogatory term.

The legendary actor said he's "a little cross these days" hearing people use the name of Konstantin Stanislavski's acting technique as a derogatory term.

Daniel Day-Lewis is 'cross' about people saying 'gone full Method' to mean 'behaving like a lunatic'

The legendary actor said he's "a little cross these days" hearing people use the name of Konstantin Stanislavski's acting technique as a derogatory term.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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October 5, 2025 11:11 p.m. ET

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Daniel Day-Lewis at Lincoln Center in New York City in 2025. Credit:

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Daniel Day-Lewis wants people to stop using "Method" like it's a dirty word.

The legendary film star, who counts three Oscars, two Golden Globes, and four BAFTA awards to his name, recently told *The New York Times* he dislikes the association of the Method acting technique with bad behavior.

"I don't really like thinking of acting in terms of craft at all. Of course, there are techniques you can learn, and I know that the Method has become an easy target these days," Day-Lewis shared in an interview published on Friday, eight years after his self-imposed retirement from acting. "I'm a little cross these days to hear all kinds of people gobbling off and saying things like 'gone full Method,' which I think is meant to imply that a person's behaving like a lunatic in an extreme fashion."**

Sean Bean and Daniel Day-Lewis in 'Anemone'.

Courtesy of Focus Features

"Everyone tends to focus on the less important details of the work, and those details always seem to involve some sort of self-flagellation or an experience that imposes upon oneself a severe discomfort or mental instability," continued Day-Lewis, who recently broke his retirement to return in *Anemone*, a new drama directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. "But of course, in the life of an actor, it has to principally be about the internal work."

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The star of acclaimed films like *Gangs of New York*, *Phantom Thread*, and *The Age of Innocence *became known over the course of his four-decade career for his absolute immersion into the psychologies and experiences of his characters, sometimes forgoing his own mannerisms and way of speaking while on sets, even while the cameras weren't rolling.

But he has never overtly identified himself as a direct acolyte of the acting technique known as "the Method," which was pioneered in the early 20th century by the Russian theorist and dramaturge Konstantin Stanislavski, and later developed in radical, independent theater groups like New York's Group Theatre and The Actors Studio and by teachers like Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg.

The three-time Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar winner — for *My Left Foot *(1990), *There Will Be Blood* (2008), and *Lincoln* (2013) — has acknowledged that his actorly training in England was in the tradition of Stanislavski, but previously suggested there is a "misleading" understanding of the Method as requiring an "inordinate amount of calculation," when in reality, "All you're trying to do is lay the groundwork, which might allow the imagination to free itself."**

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Day-Lewis is no stranger to going the distance for his roles. * *reported in 1995 that he had moved to the island where *The Crucible* would be filmed two months before production commenced to immerse himself in the rugged life his Puritan character John Proctor would have lived. Other contemporary performers have courted controversy, however, for unusual on-set habits and techniques that have been labeled "Method."

Jeremy Strong, for instance, angered his *Succession *father Brian Cox with his commitment to the role of Kendall Roy. In 2023, Cox called Strong's style of acting "f---ing annoying," conceding that while Strong is "a very good actor," he said, "Knowing a character and what the character does is only part of the skill set."

Other contemporary actors who've gotten attention for their use of Method techniques include Christian Bale, Jared Leto, and Andrew Garfield.

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