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After reading about Daniel Day-Lewis method acting in Lincoln and Gangs of New York, it got me wondering when filming stops and he stays in full character between takes does he look and all surprised at and all this future technology, or does he acknowledge he is Lincoln but Lincoln acting in a film? This applies to all method actors not just Daniel Day-Lewis.

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  • Remaining in character isn't a feature for method acting, it's just something DD-L does. Please read the wiki.
    – BCdotWEB
    Aug 27, 2015 at 13:18
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    Do method actors suffer from time travel culture shock. Wow.
    – cde
    Aug 27, 2015 at 13:27
  • Read the wiki - question is more about the staying in character if anyone has any quotes regarding what happens between takes
    – howler
    Aug 27, 2015 at 13:27
  • downvote ? its a valid question, if he acknowledges he is acting in anyway it would affect the very thing he is trying to achieve
    – howler
    Aug 27, 2015 at 13:45
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    I think you just pitched the next great Christopher Guest mockumentary. I now want to see Harry Shearer dressed as Lincoln fascinated by Angry Birds.
    – DA.
    Aug 27, 2015 at 16:14

1 Answer 1

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Daniel Day Lewis is known for his EXTREME method acting, atypical amongst most method actors. Three notable points are the movies My left Foot, Last of the Mohicans, and Lincoln. From Oddee:

  • For his role as paralyzed poet Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989), Day-Lewis refused to move from his wheelchair and had the crew lift him over obstacles. He insisted his meals be spoon-fed to him. Several weeks of slouching in the wheelchair resulted in two broken ribs and a Best Actor Oscar.
  • For his role as Nathaniel Hawkeye in Last of The Mohicans (1992) Day-Lewis lived in isolation in the Alabama wilderness where he tracked, hunted and skinned animals for food. As director Michael Mann told Time magazine: “If he didn't shoot it, he didn't eat it.”

From an Interview with Sally Field re Lincoln:

When did you actually meet Daniel as Daniel? Field: I never met him. Never. I met him as Mr. Lincoln. He met me as his Molly, as he called her. And that's how we knew each other. And we began a relationship. He began it, not me. After I got the role, there were seven months before we began to shoot and he would text me all the time, in character.

Emphasis, mine. Day Lewis would text in character. As Lincoln, a President of 1861, it would not be likely that he would be allowed to use such an insecure device (Obama isn't allowed to use an iPhone due to lack of security certification. He has to use a black berry), nor would Lincoln likely have used or know how to use it. So there is limits to even Day Lewis's method acting.

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  • very insightful answer and the type of information I was looking for . thankyou
    – howler
    Aug 27, 2015 at 13:49
  • @howler to be honest, the only time a method actor I think would take time travel/technology into account would be when the script places the character out of time. Otherwise you arn't actually taking the character's period mindset seriously.
    – cde
    Aug 27, 2015 at 13:55
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    Could you provide the source of the first quote? If it's not a quote could you remove the blockqoute markup? Aug 27, 2015 at 15:10
  • @howler How does this answer "apply to all method actors not just Daniel Day-Lewis" -- which is what you asked for? This answer once again emphasizes what I already said in my comment: this is specific to DD-L and is not the behavior of all or even most method actors.
    – BCdotWEB
    Aug 31, 2015 at 7:33

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