"The Method" - (Mostly) Essential or (Mostly) Overrated?

I will say that that some of the things The Method doesn't inherently foster is a lightness of touch - Method actors can struggle with humor or turning intensity OFF - male and female both....

Here's a pretty funny clip of Lee Strasberg testing the "relaxation" of acting students in his class - which is always the first thing an actor must achieve - it basically looks like he's checking them for a pulse.

The guy next to the first guy looks like it may be Pacino but maybe not - he might just be an ethnic looking dude in the 60s .......Mattsby - what do you think?

Also a co-President of The Actor's Studio  - the School of The Method itself - with Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel for many years - Alec Baldwin replaced Keitel in 2017.

Burstyn interviews with actors are really fantastic on Inside The Actors Studio

I'm not convinced Daniel Day-Lewis learning how to track and skin animals, build canoes, fight with tomahawks or fire and reload a 12-pound flintlock on the run contributed much to his Mohicans performance. He's just really sexy in long hair.

One of the first things they'll teach you in a drama school is that each actor creates their own individual method.  You take teachings from different perspectives or "schools" and utilize what works best for you from each.

That being said, I'd say Stanislavski's "System" is foundational and absolutely crucial to any and all acting from the 20th century beyond. It's his method, which I've seen sometimes referred to as the "Technique" that's been taught and often bastardized since.  It's his work that branches off into the teachings of Michael Chekhov, Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, Uta Hagen, etc. al 

Method acting, as it's generally thought of today, is really from Strasberg and his emphasis on Stanislavski's emotion memory. A lot of Strasberg's peers viewed his teachings as an overemphasis and sometimes dangerous technique for actors, which could and has often led to having breakdowns. The day Strasberg died, Stella Adler was said to have said "It will take the theatre decades to recover from the damage that Lee Strasberg inflicted on American actors."

Speaking broadly, if an actor needs to keep their character's accent in-between takes in order to keep it consistent, I think that's perfectly fine and in fact the professional thing to do.  Same with learning a new skill that the character has (such as learning how to box if playing a boxer) - especially if that skill plays a role in the story.  I'm not sure if every skill Tommen mentioned that DDL learned for The Last of the Mohicans was featured in the movie, and at the end of the day, it probably isn't all crucial, but if it makes DDL (or the actor in question) feel more confident in their character, then go for it.  

Now what's completely unacceptable is if an actor can't "turn it off" in-between takes or at the end of the day.  If you're about to do a scene, and you try to go over it with your scene partner and refer to them by their name, only for them to defensively claim "that's not my name, I'm Elizabeth Proctor", then that's absolutely mad and unhelpful.  Treating the crew or fellow cast negatively (like sending them "used condoms" a la Leto) is also horseshit. Those things don't help the project and in fact are more likely harmful to the overall film/series/play.  That "cute" little piece of trivia for At Close Range, in which right before shooting the scene, Sean Penn loudly replaced the prop gun Walken had personally checked with "a new gun," is downright dangerous and disrespectful to Walken, as it's essentially saying "you can't act well enough for this, so I need you to have a genuine fear of getting shot in the face."  That's BS and that's how accidents like the Alec Baldwin-Rust incident can occur.

Where's the alcohol in this mixture?

I'm sure he went Daniel Day-Lewis with that. Those Barrymores.

Sally Field - schools Brian Cox - she's joking and knows him btw ......full article is new from yesterday and ALL about her experience with Strasberg and The Method......

DEADLINE: Exactly. Yesterday I saw a headline in the trades where Brian Cox (Succession) was at the Toronto Film Festival and it said he “blasted Method acting as ‘American Sh**’, but as I read further even though he criticized Method, he was essentially saying, “I just act and as an actor the character must live through you.” Isn’t that the same thing?

FIELD: That is what I am talking about. That’s it, and Brian who I do know and I’ve worked with a tiny tiny little minute in time, but he is English and they have no understanding of what this Method is, because they felt offended by it. And it is very much what that is, except Lee taught tools because he said your emotional self will shut down if you’re literally coming at it front force and saying, “I’m going to feel sad.” … You’ll be faking it, you’ll be going for a result as they say, because you have it in your head that sadness is this, and that is what Brian is saying. I mean, Brian is this really talented man.

He might be going into it and might be doing this very thing (Method), and not quite. I needed to have the information. I needed to know those tools, that I knew I was actually using a tool. I’ve always been the person that wanted to know, you give me the actual rules and then I’ll let them go. And that’s what Lee taught. He would say, “Not everybody needs this, you don’t need to do this. You don’t need to do these exercises for every role. If it works just to pretend, then just pretend.” Lee would say that. … I think what Brian is talking about is people not knowing, they are either not knowing what the method is or not knowing how to use it, or not using it as the case may be. … I think Brian should just keep his mouth shut. I’ll be in an act-off with him (she laughs), and let’s see how many characters he can do.


deadline.com/2022/09/sally-field-actors-studio-academy-museum-challenges-brian-cox-1235120380/

Master thespian, vanilla wafer cookie Ethan Hawke with some interesting comments -

www.indiewire.com/2022/11/ethan-hawke-method-acting-can-be-crazy-1234778337/


Moderator Mankiewicz asked Hawke to weigh in on the hotly debated comments from “Succession” Emmy winner Brian Cox on Method acting as a whole. While Cox has called out co-star Jeremy Strong’s approach to the HBO series in the past, Cox’s recent controversial memoir detailed working on “The Boxer” with Daniel Day-Lewis and how the Oscar winner met co-star Emily Watson while in character. Mankiewicz paraphrased Cox’s take on the situation as having “deprived her of an authentic meeting with her collaborator,” Day-Lewis.

“Personally, I’m in agreement with Brian and Emily. But, I know that ordinary effort creates ordinary results, and the longevity and genius of Daniel Day-Lewis’ career proves that there’s method to his madness. I don’t sit in judgment,” Hawke said. “I find it endlessly fascinating. Personally, I think it’s crazy. But it works! So, far be it for me. People thought Jackson Pollack was nuts, or they thought Emily Dickinson was nuts. These are exceptional brains. Charlie Parker practiced the saxophone 12 hours a day. Can you imagine living with somebody practicing the saxophone 12 hours a day? But we’re still listening to his records, so you want to tell him, ‘Really, do six’?

Actors Studio profile - Pacino calling Brando "as close as I've seen to an acting genius" ........hmmmmmm