5. How To Be A Person: Daniel Day-Lewis Was A Highly Ineffective Actor

The ROI on DDL Daniel Day-Lewis is a highly ineffective actor when you consider his Return On Investment. It’s a good thing he’s retired so we don’t have to put up with further reports of his methodology. If only Jeremy Strong’s wholehearted admiration for Mr. Day-Lewis would also have him knock-off to Ireland to renovate a castle or Kirk.You cannot argue with Day-Lewis’s results. I am an acting teacher not a critic. I make stuff, I do not solely disparage. But I regularly extoll to my students the virtues of doing the right amount of work in an attempt to meet your lofty goals. You have to dream outrageously big in this business. Chances are you won’t become a star. Chances are you don’t really want that anyway. Look what it can do to your life Tom Cruise. You have to set massive goals in order to just make it out of the middle. But then the trick is to not kill yourself trying.If you want to die at work there are plenty of finance jobs out there. Perfectly legal — if not ethical — ways of making a lot of money. When you’re in your twenties you have the energy to work all day and all night. Go ahead and spend these years making money. Become an actor in your forties. Then act for forty years. But you won’t. We don’t often have that kind of forethought or aptitude.DDL does DDL. You can’t be the next him. You can only be the next you. So when you decide to make that short film to showcase your ability to play that Oscar-winning heroine hooked on heroin who still somehow has the heart to run a cat shelter there is no need to actually do heroin or be in the possession of a cat. DDL will become Lincoln, live in a cabin, vote Republican and insist everyone call him Abe for the entire six month shoot. Where does it end, Dan/Abe? Are you getting a ride back to your hotel room in a horse and buggy? Are you bathing monthly by candlelight? Are you sharing a bed with a certain doe-eyed Joshua in that log cabin?Does any of it help?How are you working? What’s your investment? Can you adjust it to increase your return? If something isn’t working then try something new. You can always go back to the way you were doing things after. It takes more energy to climb out of the wagon wheel ruts we carve for ourselves than it does to maintain a comfortable stagnancy. Get yourself out of the same-old, same-old by radically changing your state, be it physical or mental or whatever. In your performance do things hugely different. Do this by seeking out the embarrassing, the awkward, the ugly, the loud, the inappropriate, the provocative. You’ve got to burst out of those groves you find yourself in. And you must do it over and over again.Once you’re up and out of the rut feel how easy it is to maintain cruising altitude. Enjoy that. Then, sooner rather than later, become suspicious of it. For, inevitably we are now creating new groves that will eventually become a new rut.When he was younger Jeremy Strong was DDL’s assistant and clearly this tenure left an impression. Now he adheres to the Method wholeheartedly. In my class I tell beginners we’re here only to get out of our own way. To get out of the way of the parts of our performative selves that do not serve. Perhaps the Method can come later, that’s up to you. But for now, run from all that is precious. Avoid anything that makes it about you. Instead make it all about the scene partner and the audience. When we serve others we truly find communion and connection. Perhaps it’s different when you’re playing a self-serving scion of a billionaire asshole like Jeremy was in Succession. Perhaps it’s different when you’re carrying a big budget biopic directed by Stephen Spielberg. Perhaps I’m talking out of my ass. Check-in with yourself. See if this rings true. Don’t take my word for it. Get a second opinion. When next you have a self-tape try on some efficacy for a change. Do you over-prepare? It’s not all about memorizing the lines. You can be holding your script. Are you stressing over not fulfilling the wardrobe notes to a tee? Ignore them. Your job is not the wardrobe department. Nor is it lighting or sound. Focus on performance. Focus on behaviour and connection. Film yourself a few times and then send it off. Then, most importantly, forget you ever did it in the first place. Move on to the next one. And if you don’t have another audition make something yourself. Get sides from the Bold Acting Dropbox and prepare them. Film an audition you gave to yourself and that no one has asked for. Practice. Every day, every day, every day. Your return on investment may not be monetary. It will, however, be nothing short of creative fulfillment. And that’s an investment that can really pay off. The Bold Acting Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit boldacting.substack.com/subscribe