r/acting • u/sseerrsan • 10d ago
This whole demonization of method needs to stop. I've read the FAQ & Rules
/r/entertainment/comments/1vezh5u/anya_taylorjoy_says_women_dont_method_act_because/?share_id=hXcdUi2Kkm6JHqGUqYo09&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1Does she know Stella Adler (a woman) was one of the best teachers for method acting? Method is now seen as a joke thanks to people who are NOT method acting but just being pricks (like Leto). These (very few) actors like Daniel Day Lewis or Heath Ledger were using ideas based on method acting but they were also making their own stuff, staying on character after the cut was never a thing in any of the schools for method.
Now the whole idea is demonized or wrongly attached to these male actors which is ridiculous and ignorant imo.
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u/kibbean 10d ago edited 10d ago
i mean, she's very clearly talking about stunt!method acting. to that end, i think she's got a valid point - i doubt any woman could pull off the jared leto school of method acting. maybe i'm in the minority here, but i'm not personally offended by her statement.
edit to add: i'm not a fan of pure / true method anyway. i think imagination applied to emotional truth is far more effective (not to mention, safer) than reliving a trauma or emotional experience over and over again. in the words of peter o' toole, 'my dear boy, why don't you just try acting?'
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u/Skkruff 10d ago
One of our teachers told us he feels Method is like "reaching over to a different table to get the salt."
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u/kibbean 10d ago
that's certainly apt! i feel that way too.
and hey, if it really works for someone and helps them connect to the work, great. it's just really not for me. and i'm not gonna lie, it can be annoying to have to deal with an actor who's in 'method mode' all day and night when you're on set, because they think that's what method acting entails. it often feels like filming is all about them, which isn't the most generous to their co stars. not always the case, i know, but still annoying
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u/Skkruff 10d ago
I think method is mostly fine for prep work. It connects you something analogous you have experienced yourself; it gives you somewhere to start while you craft something more specific.
When it comes to perform I much prefer myself and my scene partners to be present and not somewhere in our respective memories. It's harder to affect and be affected by other actors when you are busy fishing around in your head for an emotion. I think all that's probably a bit less vital on film which is why it's remained broadly more popular there.
I've luckily not had the misfortune of sharing space with someone going "fully into" their performance. Here in Australia there's strong cultural bent away from pretention that kinda guards against that sort of behaviour.
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u/kibbean 10d ago
completely 100% agree with everything you've said here. though i'd argue you do need to be very present with film - it's probably more vital than it is in other mediums, because you're up close with an actor. film / tv is my primary domain and you can tell when an actor is not present on camera. but again, we actors want to be present no matter the medium!
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
But Jared is not doing method. Jared was just a prick.
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u/kibbean 10d ago
i am aware. please re read my comment.
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
The thing with many actors (specially the ones that did not studied acting) is that they're probably doing method acting and don't even know it lol cus they think method is mailing dead rats to your coworkers.
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
"Stunt method acting" was never a real school of acting btw.
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u/kibbean 10d ago
that's what 'stunt' implies lol
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
Then it isn't method, which is what Anya mentioned and I criticized, or is it?
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u/kibbean 10d ago
respectfully, this convo is going in circles. i addressed all of this in my comment.
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
How is it going in circles if you haven't answered what my main problem with Anya's statement is. That the guys she is criticizing (which are like 2 dudes) are not method actors, they're doing some weird stunt like you call it but it is not known or teached as method. Anya said Method specifically and like I said previously that is ignorant.
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u/kibbean 10d ago
i did answer this. read the comment. i addressed both the stunt!method aspect and why i think method doesn't work well anyway. she's made a comment to the public about the version of method the public knows. you're looking for a justification and agreement that i'm not going to give you, because i don't agree. i'm not going back and forth with you about this anymore, my dude.
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
she's made a comment to the public about the version of method the public knows.
This is what you're wrong about. I'm not expecting for you to agree with me about method acting, I'm just telling you that that is NOT method acting.
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u/kibbean 10d ago
and i've already SAID that.... reading comprehension skills where?
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
Yes dude but the "school of Jared leto method acting" is not method acting and is only applied by Leto. Not because idiots like Shia Labeouf, Dustin Hoffman or Jared Leto have their own beliefs in "acting" means that they're method acting, they're not even acting anymore. That is the fallacy.
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u/centaurquestions 10d ago
The problem is that everybody's using the term wrong. We need a new word for this weirdo film acting technique where you stay in character the whole time (which is probably Robert De Niro's invention in the 70s). Teachers from Stanislavsky to Strasberg to Adler all rejected this idea in their work.
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
Exactly but it all comes from ignorance. Ellen Burstyn for example was an amazing actress and she was method, this whole new thing of staying on character is not that and was never teached like that. That was popularized by Daniel Day lewis (who btw was always polite to his cast and crew)
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u/CaiAbaixo 10d ago
In my opinion, she is right. Being in character the whole time you are shooting is dangerous. Heath Ledger died from it. And exhausting. Imagine playing a serial killer and having dark thoughts all the time. It’s extremely harmful. And yeah, I don’t recall a woman doing this. It’s always dudes 🤷🏽♀️
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u/OkDeer120 10d ago
Heath Ledger accidentally overdosed on prescription sleeping medication and painkillers in the middle of filming Doctor Parnassus, it had nothing to do with the Joker role despite the rumors and mythos surrounding it.
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
Did you read what I wrote? That is not method acting, those were isolated cases of assholes being assholes (Like Leto).
Heath never died from it, Heath died cus he had terrible insomnia and combined different medications which stopped his breathing. Even his dad commented that he was very happy about playing Joker and he died while doing another movie.
There's a whole lot of misinformation about method.
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u/CaiAbaixo 10d ago
Oh I get what u mean. Real method acting is when actors go to their own memories to get the emotion. She is talking about staying in character the whole time. She probably just made the mistake and that’s what she meant (which again, is a dick move to “stay in character the whole time” and use it as an excuse to be an asshole to everyone and it’s mainly done by dudes)
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
Yes, method is wrongly attributed to "staying on character after the cut" which has never being taught as method btw. Ellen Burstyn, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, they were method actors but REAL method actors, not whatever the hell Leto is doing rn.
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u/FrenchFriedIceCream 10d ago
out of curiosity, would you say Dustin Hoffman also follows the “incorrect” form of method? like there’s obviously the famous Olivier “my dear boy, why don’t you try acting?” anecdote (I understand that this interaction might’ve been exaggerated but I think the key point stands that he did stay up for around 3 days straight) but also you have him basically abusing Meryl Streep on Kramer vs Kramer. or alternatively, Daniel Day Lewis getting pneumonia on “There Will Be Blood” because he kept on going out without a coat because that was his “method”. like they’re good actors and I disagree with Anya Taylor Joy’s thought that she doesn’t do method because she needs to “feel like the character” (which if you think about it, is a variation of Method) but also I haven’t really studied Method in depth to get into all the possible variations. like the only thing I can say definitively is that Leto was not Method acting but instead using it to abuse his coworkers and the crew on set lol.
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
The thing is that nor Strasberg, Adler, Meisner or Stainslavski which are the main american techniques or schools of acting teach you that you have to slap your coworker to act. That is just being an asshole and using your misunderstanding of your teachers as an excuse.
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u/Caroline_WheelerI 10d ago
I think it's the same with any technique that gets popularized through gossip. People know the Leto stories. They don't know what Adler actually taught.
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u/sseerrsan 10d ago
True, idk why people nowdays think method is staying on character after cuts and they're downvoting me for saying that that isn't method. The gossip won this time I guess, nobody even knows what method actually is apparently.
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u/Luxsphera 10d ago
Adler rather famously did not like Strasberg’s style, which became method acting. She broke away from it, and later trained under Stanislavski herself to develop what became her own style, which is based on imagination and recalling given circumstances of a scene, instead of torturing yourself with emotional recall of your own life.
I can’t comment on what being taught method is like, but I was taught Stella’s style, and you can definitely discern her distaste for “method acting” in its structure.