‘Handbags at Dawn’: Daniel Day-Lewis discusses his conflicted acting style with Brian Cox | Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis has spoken publicly about being involved in what he called a “dawn handbag fight” with fellow actor Brian Cox over method acting.

Speaking to The Big Issue, Day-Lewis spoke of his commitment to the technique in the face of skepticism from Cox, who made disparaging remarks about the approach adopted by actors including Succession co-star Jeremy Strong, suggesting he found his behavior on set “annoying”.

“Listen, I worked with Brian Cox once and was somehow unwittingly drawn to these handbags at dawn,” Day-Lewis said. “Brian is a very good actor and has done an exceptional job. As a result, he has been given a platform… and he shows no sign of getting off it. Anytime he wants to talk about it, he’s easy to find.”

“If while we were working together I thought I had interfered with his work process, I would feel terrible. But I don’t think it was that way. So I don’t know where that came from. Jeremy Strong is a very good actor, and I don’t know how he handles things, but I don’t feel responsible in any way for that.”

Day-Lewis’s dissatisfaction with method acting—in which the actor immerses himself in character on and off the set—became evident at the press tour for his new film, Anemone.

He has addressed this issue in most, if not all, of his recent interviews. Speaking at the BFI Southbank last month, Day-Lewis said the “recent comments” about the technology “always come from people who have little or no understanding of what it actually entails. It feels as if it’s a pseudoscience we’re engaging in, or a cult.”

He told The Big Issue: “I can’t think of a single commentator who has seized on this method and has any understanding of how it works and the intention behind it.

“They focus on, ‘Oh, he lived in a prison cell for six months.’ [for 1993 film In the Name of the Father]. Those are the less important details. In all performing arts, people find their methods as a means to an end. It’s with the goal of liberating yourself so you provide your colleagues with a living, breathing human being they can interact with. It’s very simple.

“So the whole thing bothers me,” Oh, he went the whole way, “…because it’s always tied to the idea of ​​some kind of madness.”

Day-Lewis went on to compare his professionalism on set to that of some of his colleagues, who instead spend their time playing pranks.

“I chose to stay in and walk around, rather than jumping in and out or doing practical jokes between takes or whatever people think you should do as an actor,” Day-Lewis said.

Anemone is the directorial debut of Ronan Day-Lewis, who co-wrote it with his father, and is scheduled to be released in the UK on 7 November.