Method Acting: Difference between revisions

'''Method Acting''' is a controversial practice in the field of performance. The core gist of it is this: an actor tries to replicate the life circumstances, mannerisms and emotional feelings of the character he portrays, so as to give realism, legitimacy and dramatic strength to his performance. An actor playing a character from history might research the character, look for media featuring him, and try to live in the same conditions that that character lived, provided that doing so would not be detrimental to his mental or physical health. A character in a deep depression might make him reflect on his own moments of sadness and bring those feelings forth. He might [[Dyeing for Your Art|gain or lose weight]] to fit a character who is morphologically different from him, but this is generally frowned upon (despite what [[Robert De Niro]] would have you believe).

 

For the involuntary version of this, see [[Enforced Method Acting]]. For when a writer/director casts an actor for his natural fit into a role(natural method acting, if you may), see [[Write Who You Know]]. If the character falls too deep into their role, they may become [[Lost in Character]].

 

 

* [[Marlon Brando]] is arguably the first great method actor.

* Forest Whitaker's method acting finally earned him the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of [[Complete Monster|Ugandan dictator Idi Amin]] in ''Last King Of Scotland''.

* Adrian Brody practically starved himself and gave away his car and home as part of his preparation for his role in [[Roman Polanski]]'s ''[[The Pianist]]''.

* Method acting might have been [[Fatal Method Acting|what killed]] [[Heath Ledger]]. For his performance as [[The Joker]] in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', Ledger, for all purposes, basically became mentally ill, suffering from insomnia, paranoia and panic attacks. This may have led to the ill-fated drug overdose that took his life, but it also led to one of the most powerful performances in film history, as well as a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

** It should also be noted that this is heavily contested by those who worked with Ledger on the film. Micheal Cain in particular insists that Ledger was quite friendly and gregarious between takes who enjoyed swapping stories with the cast and crew about their children (or grandchildren) and entertained them with skateboarding tricks on long shoots.

** An interesting double-twist: for ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'', all the actors except [[Matt Damon]] had training, which [[Enforced Method Acting|subconciously gave the other actors contempt for him]] being a rookie, reflecting the characters. Clever move, [[Steven Spielberg|Spielberg]].

* [[James Dean]] was a method actor.

** To the extreme, although it often worked: he kept everyone waiting while he brooded in his dressing room on the set of ''[[Rebel Without a Cause]]'', but then pulled off the police station scene in one take. He also ad-libbed the very effective moment in ''[[East of Eden]]'' when Cal breaks down and tearfully embraces his father when he refuses to accept the money he is offering (much to Raymond Massey's obvious shock). Not everyone was a fan of his style, though; he annoyed Rock Hudson to no end with his extensive preparation on ''Giant''.

* [[Dustin Hoffman]] is another Method actor. (There's a famous anecdote about classical actor [[Laurence Olivier]]'s reaction to his method when they worked together on ''[[Marathon Man]]'', but it turns out the anecdote isn't actually true.)

* [[Jim Carrey]] pretended to be [[Andy Kaufman]] for the entire duration of filming ''[[Man on the Moon]]'', which drove most of his coworkers nuts.

** It actually became strange as Jim Carrey began developing strange tics and specific movements that Kaufman himself would do, ''but which weren't actually in the script''. Andy Kaufman's old friends who were working on the movie just decided to let it ride and figured "hey, Andy's back with us for a few months".

* [[John Simm]] received Stanislavskian training at drama school. He's been known to starve himself, consuming only coffee and cigarettes in order to play Van Gogh and to refuse hospital treatment after breaking some ribs while playing Raskolnikov because the fever and the pain "added to his performance". He also experimented with drugs when preparing for ''[[Human Traffic]]''. When he was preparing to play Bernard Sumner in ''24 Hour Party People'', he was constantly listening to tapes of Sumner's interviews on his Walkman in order to get his voice right.

 

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