Daniel Day-Lewis has expressed his frustration at Brian Cox and his persistent criticism of method actors.
Cox has been vocal in his criticism of method acting, a phrase generally used to describe a performer who immerses themselves in the character to such an extent that they behave as them between takes and do activities that would help them connect with who they are.
The Succession actor has spoken several times about the technique in relation to co-star Jeremy Strong. He described the process as “fucking annoying” in 2023, and added in late 2024 how he feels a cast member remaining in character upsets production. “It’s not good for the ensemble” he told The Guardian. “It creates hostility.”
Daniel Day-Lewis is perhaps the most well-known method actor, and expressed his irritation with Cox’s comments in an interview with The Big Issue. “Brian is a very fine actor who’s done extraordinary work” he said. “As a result, he’s been given a soapbox … which he shows no sign of climbing down from. Any time he wants to talk about it, I’m easy to find.”
Day-Lewis and Cox appeared together in The Boxer, the 1997 drama for which the Oscar winner trained extensively with elite boxing trainers.
“If I thought during our work together, I’d interfered with his working process, I’d be appalled. But I don’t think it was like that” Day-Lewis said. “So, I don’t know where the fuck that came from. Jeremy Strong is a very fine actor, I don’t know how he goes about things, but I don’t feel responsible in any way for that.”
He later talked about criticism of method acting in general. “I just don’t like it being misrepresented to the extent it has been,” he admits. “I can’t think of a single commentator who’s gobbed off about the method that has any understanding of how it works and the intention behind it.”
“They focus on, ‘Oh, he lived in a jail cell for six months’ [for 1993 film In the Name of the Father]. Those are the least important details. In all the performing arts, people find their methods as a means to an end. It’s with the intention of freeing yourself so you present your colleagues with a living, breathing human being they can interact with. It’s very simple.”
The Lincoln actor previously defended his techniques at a talk during October’s London Film Festival.
“All the recent commentary in the last few years about method acting is invariably from people who have little or no understanding of what it actually involves” he said. “It’s almost as if it’s some specious science that we’re involved in, or a cult. But it’s just a way of freeing yourself so that the spontaneity, when you are working with your colleagues in front of the camera, that you are free to respond in any way that you’ll move to in that moment.”
Recently, Daniel Day-Lewis’ son Ronan, who directed him in new film Anemone, addressed the “nepo baby” label often given to creatives who are the children of successful people.