You’ve probably heard a lot about method acting in recent years. It’s been around for decades, but here recently, some actors have been speaking out against it.
Mads Mikkelsen spoke out against it in an interview back in April, saying:
It’s bullshit. But preparation, you can take into insanity. What if it’s a shit film — what do you think you achieved? Am I impressed that you didn’t drop character? You should have dropped it from the beginning!
And just recently, ‘Stranger Things’ star David Harbour spoke with GQ Magazine and basically said the same thing. He admitted that when he was younger, he subscribed to the whole method acting mythology.
When I was younger — it’s so embarrassing — but I remember playing that famous Scottish King. And being like, ‘I’m gonna kill a cat’ or something: ‘I’m gonna go murder something to know what it feels like to murder.’ I didn’t actually do it, obviously. Not only is that [method acting] stuff silly, it’s dangerous, and it actually doesn’t produce good work.
When GQ responded, by citing Daniel Day-Lewis, who proudly talks about his method acting, Harbour shot back with this:
He’s an extraordinary actor who I’m captivated and fascinated by. [But] when he explains his process it sounds like nonsense to me.
Certainly seems like this “method acting” technique is on its way out. No longer can people get away with being an asshole on set simply because they’re playing a character who is an asshole…we’re looking at you, Jim Carrey!
