Daniel Day-Lewis Had Hallucinations and Claustrophobia After Losing Himself in This Film
Actor Daniel Day-Lewis often went through extreme preparations to inhabit the characters he plays. Even if that means putting his health, both physically and mentally, at risk.
Daniel Day-Lewis went too far in his method acting for ‘Last of the Mohicans’
Day-Lewis applied some of his well-known method acting for the 1992 picture Last of the Mohicans. The picture saw Day-Lewis portray a half-white Native American who was adopted by his tribe, and is unexpectedly thrust into the French and Indian War.
In his interview with The New York Times, some of the methods Day-Lewis used to prepare for the film was revealed. According to the publication, Day-Lewis would stand in a cold lake for fifteen minutes for the sake of his character. He also did a lot of running for the feature to maintain his role’s slim physique. But Mohicans also took a significant toll on the Oscar-winner.
As the Lincoln star was wrapping his time up with the film, he and other crew members were subjected to grueling working conditions. These included experiencing hallucinations and claustrophobia, both of which might’ve been exacerbated by not having enough time to eat food.
“I find it difficult to be in rooms now for long periods of time,” Day-Lewis said of his experience. “I can usually take it for about an hour. Then I stride out.”
The symptoms were so severe that Day-Lewis had to be prescribed medication to help him recover.
Daniel Day-Lewis felt like he couldn’t afford to be interested in ‘The Last of the Mohicans’
Day-Lewis admitted that doing The Last of the Mohicans was a nice departure from his usual roles. At that stage in his career, he was accustomed to portraying characters who didn’t have it all figured out. His role in Mohicans, however, saw the method actor be a character who was both extremely competent and confident.
“I’m generally interested by people who don’t understand the rules, who don’t understand what’s happening to them, to their lives, who are confused by the signposts around them,” Day-Lewis once told The New Yorker. “For once in my life I was fascinated by someone who knew how to read the signs: Hawkeye doesn’t suffer from uncertainty. I found the absence of contemporary neurosis fascinating, and highly desirable.”
But The Last of the Mohicans also boasted a working environment that Day-Lewis wasn’t very receptive of. The feature he’d done before Mohicans, My Left Foot, was a modest production with a manageable number of cast and crew members. Mohicans was nothing like that, which made Day-Lewis wish he didn’t get too attached to the film’s script.
“I was still a bit shaky,” Day-Lewis said. “But I’d discovered the way I wanted to work. I found it during My Left Foot—on a small scale, with a group of people sharing the same secret, shutting out the surrounding din, soundproofing myself. Then I got the script for The Last of the Mohicans, which couldn’t be further removed from that. In rereading the script, I kept thinking, I cannot afford to be interested in this. But part of the attraction was that the first human sign you find in the script is . . . a foot.”
Daniel Day-Lewis thought he was changed by his ‘Last of the Mohicans’ character
Because of his close attachment to characters, the retired star confided there was usually a chance for him to take his film roles with him. He theorized that this happened with Mohicans when he was asked if the movie stayed with him. Although he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly it changed about him.
“I think the answer’s probably yes, although it’s not something that I’d be able to judge, anyway. In some respects, I probably have been altered, even if only an infinitesimal way by the experience of making that film. Just as I have been by every other film and every other experience. I mean, everything contributes, and this film must’ve contributed in some way. But I don’t know how,” Day-Lewis once said according to Reelinintheyears66.
