So as some of you may know, Cassavetes was extremely scornful of method acting, referring to it as "more a form of psychotherapy than of acting", not to mention accusing it of being self-indulgent, sentimental, pretentious and overall just producing bad performances.
His contempt was actually so strong that it inspired him to create his own acting workshop that focused on pure character creation rather than backstory, one that saw acting more as an expression of creative exuberance.
It's important to note how brave this was to do for a then struggling actor in 50s New York, where the Actors Studio was idolized and Cassavetes made plenty of enemies for saying these things. And mind you, this isn't just empty gesturing from a nobody, Lee Strasberg had actually offered him a full ride scholarship after being incredibly impressed by a performance by him which Cassavetes not only rejected but downright mocked him.
Personally I find method acting to be very valid and some of my favorite actors come from that tradition but I do concede that there is a certain degree of validity to what he's saying, there are lot of actors who unfortunately take a very simplistic approach to method.
Any thoughts on this?
I'm genuinely curious about this and I'm wondering what /r/TrueFilm thinks about it. So, House of Gucci is coming out soon. And there's already quite a bit of hubbub regarding Lady Gaga's Oscar chances. She's been making the rounds on media talking about how she went "Method" for the film and these are few excerpts I read in a BuzzFeed article about it.
In an earlier interview with British Vogue as the magazine's December cover star, Lady Gaga revealed, "I lived as [Patrizia] for a year and a half. And I spoke with an accent for nine months of that [off camera]. I never broke. I stayed with her."
She added that she experienced "psychological difficulty" after filming wrapped: "I remember when we started filming, I knew I had become — and I knew that the greater challenge was going to be unbecoming."
Lady Gaga said that she drew from her experience of being raped at 19 to portray the deterioration of Patrizia's mental health in the film. "I took the pain I feel from being attacked when I was a young girl, from feeling left behind by people that I love, from feeling trapped that I can’t go out into a world that I love. I took that pain and I gave it to her."
"I remember I gave Salma [Hayek] a heart attack that day," Gaga said. "I was falling apart as [Patrizia] fell apart. When I say that I didn’t break character, some of it was not by choice."
The 35-year-old was so immersed in her role that Ridley felt the need to intervene out of concern for her well-being. "Ridley said, 'I don’t want you traumatizing yourself,'" Gaga recalled. "And I said, 'I already have. I’ve already been through this anyway. I might as well give it to you.'"
These are just a few of the excerpts from the article that I'll post below. But I'm curious, what does this mean to you? Because to me, as someone with an acting background, this sounds like the musings of an insane person. But I think it goes deeper than that. This is what happens when we hold the concept of "Method" acting in such high regard that we miss the forest for the trees behind what "Method" acting is supposed to accomplish. And that is to get a truthful performance out of an actor.
For one, just calling it "Method" acting is incredibly broad. Many theatre practitioners had different methods. Lee Strasberg had a method, Sanford Meisner had a method, Stella Adler had a method, Stanislavski had his "system". These are all "Method" but they all tend to focus on different things. Interestingly enough, Stan
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Hi,
Does anyone know any classes (online preferably) that I can sign up for that don't teach conventional acting methods like Ivana Chubbuk's technique, or method acting?
I'm looking for a real life approach that doesn't rely on things like inner objects, substitutions, or emotional trauma - quite frankly, I'm sick of these type of classes.
Let me know if you guys know someone that can help....Thanks.
Hi,
This may be a strange question, but I always wanted to ask this after reading books on acting in my spare time (I like to read random subjects for fun). Is it possible to create a new you by using method acting techniques?
For example lets say that I want to become a confident salesman who has no fear in the world.? Or a CEO who can pitch anything with pure emotion?
I want my public face to be that of a confident emotional salesman/CEO and my private face to remain the same.
Is this possible or am I not understanding the material correctly? Any replies would be appreciated. Thank you.
p.s. I do not want to become Abraham Lincoln. Props to anyone who gets this reference.
She could have easily claimed that she was taking on this persona because Alec was creating a film about a Spanish lady etc etc etc. Thoughts???
I've seen discussion on actors that prefer method acting and stay in the role 24/7, namely Daniel Day Lewis and now Nicole Kidman.
That's cool, and I'm sure it takes a ton of discipline, but wouldn't a better actor be able to pop in and out of the role mentally as needed, rather than needing to stay in character constantly?
I was told a little late that I needed to wear pants inside and outside the Donald Duck costume.
Actors ‘act’. The literal point is to be something you are NOT!
I read about some short film actor refraining from all sexual activity for a couple of months to get in the role of a sexually repressed person. Now really is being sexually repressed the same as acting to be sexually repressed? And if you have to be that to act like that then you just aren’t a good actor!
Whats next? Stabbing yourself with a knife to act like you’ve been stabbed? Or killing someone to get in the ‘mindset’ of a murderer?
Is it just me or is it a way for people to show that there is much more to acting that there really is? I mean, it is tough no doubt, but are these shenanigans really necessary?
