Acting is one of the important aspects of the film. The success of a film heavily depends on the skills and techniques of the actor. The audience who does not know much about filmmaking also can notice the actor’s skills. A bad camera angle or lighting might escape their eyes but bad acting can’t. Acting in itself is an art. And just like all other arts, it has different techniques. Method acting is one of them. Method acting is a range of rehearsal and training techniques that an actor follows to understand the character to a more in-depth level. Connect with the character mentally and leave himself behind to become the character. This technique emerged from theatre and is still followed by some actors today. But there are others who are not a fan of method acting and think it is killing Hollywood.
Will Smith on Method Acting
The charisma and comedic timing are what Will Smith fans love about him. The actor agreed that in his certain roles he adopted the method acting practice. Like for his role in the Six Degrees of Separation. He shared his experience with method acting. How he would forget Will and completely become the character. It also helped him make some personal realizations. Though his performance as Paul in Six Degrees of Separation was moving the actor said that he quit method acting as it took a toll on him on the mental level. He said, “I don’t do method acting anymore, because when that psychological ground falls out it’s horrendous.”
Martin Freeman Despises Method Acting
The actor, Martin Freeman is quite popular for his acting skill, but the actor hates method acting. In a podcast on Off Menu, he called method acting is “a highly impractical way of working, which is why I think it belongs more to the student and academic side than the practical ability side.” He said that it too bothering to lose himself. He called method acting not a craft but a job. The Sherlock actor talked about Jim Carrey’s work in Man on The Moon. He said that Jim Carrey took it to another level and it affect him and the crew both. The actor is more of a “get the job done” actor, and does not appreciate method acting.
John Malkovich Hates Method Acting
The actor, who has won many awards for his acting, including a primetime Emmy, is not a fan of method acting. His quote about it is quite famous. “I’m not a Method actor. I don’t believe acting should be psychodrama. I look within myself and see what I can find to play the role with. If I’m playing a blind man, I don’t go around blindfolded for days. A lot of good actors would, but I don’t go in for that very much. I like to just make it up as I go along.” He believes in staying himself, at some level not just losing himself to the character.
Claire Danes
The actress has been into acting from a very young age. She has won lots of awards for her acting and we all know that she is a talented lady. But the actress despite being in this career for so long has never liked method acting. She thinks that being too involved with the characters she plays would make her life hard. The Romeo+Juliet actress said, “If I took my characters home with me, half of my life would be a misery, I think. No, I tend to compartmentalize work from my life. I’m not terribly Method.”
Charlize Theron
The actress won an Oscar for her intense performance in Monsters (2003). She played the role of Aileen Wuornos – a serial killer. But now the actress claims that her days as a method actor are over. Charlize Theron shared in an interview that method acting is exhausting and can take up too much of her energy. Going into the deep dark places was heard for her. She shared, “It was good for me to figure this out, and I am much better now at understanding and living and breathing at the moment with the character.”
Related: Nicholas Cage Reveals How Acting Is Like Mixed Martial Arts
