Daniel Day-Lewis Fires Back at Brian Cox Over Method Acting Feud

Three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis has hit back at Brian Cox following the Succession star’s repeated criticism of method acting. In a fiery new interview with The Big Issue, the famously private actor said he’s been dragged into a “handbags-at-dawn conflict” over the legitimacy of the immersive acting style.

“Brian is a very fine actor who’s done extraordinary work,” Daniel Day-Lewis 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.”

Daniel Day-Lewis — who famously lived as his characters during films like There Will Be Blood and In the Name of the Father — accused Brian Cox and other critics of misrepresenting method acting as “some kind of lunacy.”

“It P****s Me Off”: Day-Lewis Calls Out Misconceptions

The 68-year-old actor did not hold back as he defended his approach to performance. “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,” he said.

“They focus on, ‘Oh, he lived in a jail cell for six months.’ Those are the least important details. It’s about freeing yourself to present your colleagues with a living, breathing human being they can interact with.”

Daniel Day-Lewis’s remarks come after Brian Cox’s comments in 2023 criticizing his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong, who has cited Day-Lewis as a major influence. Brian Cox had suggested that Jeremy Strong’s on-set intensity could be “irritating,” and that he had “learned all that stuff from Dan.”

Daniel Day-Lewis dismissed the claim, saying, “If I thought I’d interfered with Jeremy’s working process, I’d be appalled. But I don’t think it was like that. So I don’t know where the f*** that came from.”

Brian Cox with Jeremy Strong in ‘The Succession’

A Return to Acting — and to Public Debate

After reportedly retiring in 2017, Daniel Day-Lewis recently returned to screens in Anemone, a psychological drama directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis. The actor’s press tour has seen him repeatedly address what he calls a “fundamental misunderstanding” of method acting.

Appearing at BFI Southbank last month, he said: “It’s almost as if it’s some specious science we’re involved in, or a cult. It’s not. It’s simply about finding truth in performance.”

While Day-Lewis’s career has often been defined by his commitment to transformation — from My Left Foot to Lincoln — his latest comments make clear that he sees the technique not as madness, but as mastery.

“I choose to stay and splash around,” he said, “rather than play practical jokes between takes or whatever people think acting should be.”