Married to the Method: Unveiling the Complex Realities of Method Acting
*Article from Lexington Lines Autumn/Winter 2023 Issue, pages 36-37
Check out full article here.
Rumor has it, Austin Butler had a hard time dropping the Elvis act. Months after his film hit theaters, the A- list actor could still be caught speaking in Elvis Presley's distinct Mississippi drawl in interviews and on red carpets. His commitment to the role went to such extremes that it landed him in the hospital.
“My body just started shutting down the day after shooting,” he told GQ last year.
Better yet, Succession’s breakout actor, Jeremy Strong, brought an approach so intense that following the wrap of the last scene of the series finale, he felt compelled to throw himself into the freezing tides of the Hudson River (according to Vanity Fair).
“I didn’t know I was going to do that,” he said, and neither did Scott Nicholson, who played the supporting role of Colin in the hit series, and who rushed to pull Strong back off the railing.
The show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, voiced his concern regarding the incident on NPR’s Fresh Air podcast.
“I was terrified. I was terrified that he might fall in and be injured,” he said.
Strong’s on-screen dad, Brian Cox, also gave his two cents on the actor’s approach to dramaturgy in an interview with Seth Meyers, adding “[Strong] does get obsessed with work, and I worry about what it does to him… but the result — whatever one says about Jeremy — the result is always extraordinary and excellent.”
Of course, a lifestyle of commitment to the character to this degree has been trailblazed by numerous other iconic thespians, including Daniel Day-Lewis, Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, and Hilary Swank.
It begs the question: what are the ethics surrounding method acting in hopes of achieving the best possible interpretation of a character, even when it may negatively affect those around you? In short, is method acting crucial to an exemplary performance, or does it just do more harm than good?
I had the chance to sit down with Michael Mullen, an accomplished actor, filmmaker, and Head of Acting at Nassau Community College (among other achievements). Mullen has come head-to-head with the “sensationalized” concept over years in the industry.
“I thought that was the only way to do it. You had to be a method actor. All the best people were method actors,” he says, looking back on his grade school acting days. “I definitely went in that direction, and very destructively, I think, was into it.”
Mullen defines method acting by the idea that method actors are “trying to find reality” in the portrayal of their character, while elucidating that the premise of acting is to “create truthful behavior in imaginary circumstances.”
The problem with seeking realism in drama is that often, method actors will struggle to maintain equanimity, which can in turn lead to the distress, suffering or even destruction of themselves or others.
“I mean, nobody knows for sure,” Mullen says. “But a very noteworthy theory is that method acting was the end of Heath Ledger.”
Mullen is referring to the late legendary method actor, Heath Ledger, and how his devotion to the role of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s 2008 film, The Dark Knight, could have contributed to his tragic overdose.
Adding in the argument that method acting has the power to massively deteriorate one’s mental or physical health, Mullen describes the trauma he endured in his experience with the disputatious technique.
“I took myself to a really dark place for that, and it took me years to untangle myself from it,” he says. “I would hear a song or be in a circumstance, and I would have a flashback moment, and I couldn’t control my mental, emotional state.”
Gambling with the practice for a role in a high school play in which he played a school shooter, Mullen expressed a level of regret for exposing his adolescent mind to such traumas.
“Yeah, it was great,” he says. “But was it worth it, for a high-school play, to carry that created trauma with me? It wasn’t worth it.”
Mullen believes that the biggest risk of method acting is starting too young. He referenced Lee Strasberg’s model of method acting, summarizing the basic premise of his teachings.
“Lee Strasberg used to say, ‘you should be 25 years old, at least, before you start doing this process,’ because you haven’t had the life experience to not only have experience, but then to also have perspective enough from your experience not to get sucked in.”
Nevertheless, method acting has proven time and time again to yield impressive results, whether or not the actor’s psychological and emotional well-being was negatively impacted in the process.
Gangs of New York (2002), Fight Club (1999), and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) are all emblematic products of method acting and the sacrifices made by method actors to provide the most believable character portrayal possible with the audience’s enjoyment in mind.
The question is whether the threat of harm to the actor and their colleagues is worth it.
When Angelina Jolie worked alongside Winona Ryder in Girl, Interrupted, James Mangold’s 1999 film adaption of Susanna Kaysen’s autobiographical novel, she didn’t attempt to form any kind of friendship with her co-star.
“If I saw something human about [Ryder], or she told me why something hurt her so much, I couldn’t be sensitive to her when I saw her,” she told E! News. “I couldn’t become too close friends with her because I wouldn’t have been able to attack her.”
Ryder shared her reaction to this in-character, off-camera treatment served by Jolie (via Us Weekly) stating, “I think [Jolie] needed to be able to look at me just as the character Susanna, not as Winona. So in a very respectful way, she just kind of kept her distance.”
In some cases, method acting can make for undeniably fine work, but this all comes with understanding the process as a whole: its benefits, drawbacks, and lasting effects.
And while many famed method actors tend to garner massive respect for their sacrifices, the overall mental, physical, and psychological impacts as a result may not be worth the risk.