$chain = sub { $_[0]->method1(@args1)->method2(@args2)->method3(@args3) };

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl -wl

use strict;
no strict 'refs';

{ package Foo; sub foo { 1 } }
{ package Bar; use base 'Foo'; }

my $object = 'Bar'; # just the class name
my $method = 'Bar::foo';

print "$object->$method ",  eval { $object->$method  } ? 'ok' : 'not ok'; 
print "&$method($object) ", eval { &$method($object) } ? 'ok' : 'not ok';

__END__
Bar->Bar::foo ok
&Bar::foo(Bar) not ok

##</code><code>##

for (@$chain) { ... }