It takes a remarkably intense performance to get attention at the Academy Awards. Tortured performances from actors immersed in their characters, from the likes of Marlon Brando and Daniel Day-Lewis, set the bar high. But other well-regarded actors think investing so much off-screen dedication into a part isn’t worth the trouble. Either way, some of the most acclaimed film performances draw from the same intensive program: The Method. So, what is Method acting, and is it required to win the top acting awards at the Oscars?
How does Method acting work? Christian Bale in a scene from ‘American Psycho’ (2000) | Lion’s Gate/Getty Images
Method acting, at its core, is an extreme form of immersion for actors. Performers dive into the minds of their characters, even when the cameras aren’t rolling. The process goes beyond rehearsing scenes and running lines. Actors like Day-Lewis stay in character the entire time they’re on set.
How does Method acting work? Christian Bale in a scene from ‘American Psycho’ (2000) | Lion’s Gate/Getty Images
Method acting, at its core, is an extreme form of immersion for actors. Performers dive into the minds of their characters, even when the cameras aren’t rolling. The process goes beyond rehearsing scenes and running lines. Actors like Day-Lewis stay in character the entire time they’re on set.
- 3/21/2023
- by Agustin Mojica
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
As actors ponder their Emmy acceptance speeches for September 12, one wonders whether some incipient Adrian Lester envy might creep into their thoughts. Lester, the Black British actor, won a Tony nomination for playing both a German Jewish banker and a female character in The Lehman Trilogy on Broadway. At the Emmys, actors like Jennifer Coolidge and Steve Martin will likely win kudos for essentially playing themselves, with great aplomb.
I empathize with the tensions facing actors today: They covet the opportunity to display their “range” but also understand the risks inherent in boundary crossing. Even Tom Hanks expresses regret for depicting a gay protagonist in 1993’s Philadelphia, and James Franco is catching it for playing Fidel Castro.
The woke-phobic Bill Maher raged this week against critics of Helen Mirren for portraying Golda Meir, but some still rail on Mickey Rooney for Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
But type-casting, or resistance to it,...
I empathize with the tensions facing actors today: They covet the opportunity to display their “range” but also understand the risks inherent in boundary crossing. Even Tom Hanks expresses regret for depicting a gay protagonist in 1993’s Philadelphia, and James Franco is catching it for playing Fidel Castro.
The woke-phobic Bill Maher raged this week against critics of Helen Mirren for portraying Golda Meir, but some still rail on Mickey Rooney for Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
But type-casting, or resistance to it,...
- 8/18/2022
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Madrid-based The Mediapro Studio, the high-end drama production-distrubution arm of media giant Mediapro, has kicked off pre-production on Season 2 of “The Head,” whose first season was a massive global hit for the company which has already released in 90 countries.
Continuing with the show’s key themes of isolation and the struggle between good and evil, often highlighting the grey areas in between, Season 2 will relocate from the South Pole to an ocean freighter on a scientific mission.
Set at a remote polar research station in the dark of winter, “The Head” Season 1 utilized tricks of time and perspective to slowly uncover the details of a grizzly series of murders, started by a decapitation, at one of earth’s most isolated human habitats, an Antarctic research station over the winter months. When the summer staff flies off to leave a skeleton crew behind all is well, but after an unexpected radio silence,...
Continuing with the show’s key themes of isolation and the struggle between good and evil, often highlighting the grey areas in between, Season 2 will relocate from the South Pole to an ocean freighter on a scientific mission.
Set at a remote polar research station in the dark of winter, “The Head” Season 1 utilized tricks of time and perspective to slowly uncover the details of a grizzly series of murders, started by a decapitation, at one of earth’s most isolated human habitats, an Antarctic research station over the winter months. When the summer staff flies off to leave a skeleton crew behind all is well, but after an unexpected radio silence,...
- 10/13/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
DVD Release Date: March 13, 2012
Price: DVD $27.99
Studio: Strand Releasing
Say hello to The Women on the 6th Floor.
Popular and pleasing European actresses Carmen Maura (Law of Desire), Sandrine Kiberlain (Madamoiselle Chambon) and Natalia Verbeke (The Method) serve up some solid “upstairs/downstairs” laughs in the 2010 French-Spanish comedy The Women on the 6th Floor.
The film is set in Paris, 1960, where the world of bourgeois couple Jean-Louis (Fabrice Luchini, Potiche) and Suzanne (Kiberlain) is turned upside-down when they hire a Spanish maid named María (Verbeke). Through María, Jean-Louis is introduced to a wacky kind of alternative lifestyle on the building’s sixth floor, the servants’ quarters. There, he befriends a group of sassy Spanish maids, refugees of the Franco regime, who teach him there’s more to life than stocks and bonds, and whose influence on the house will ultimately transform everyone’s life.
Directed and co-written by Philippe Le Guay,...
Price: DVD $27.99
Studio: Strand Releasing
Say hello to The Women on the 6th Floor.
Popular and pleasing European actresses Carmen Maura (Law of Desire), Sandrine Kiberlain (Madamoiselle Chambon) and Natalia Verbeke (The Method) serve up some solid “upstairs/downstairs” laughs in the 2010 French-Spanish comedy The Women on the 6th Floor.
The film is set in Paris, 1960, where the world of bourgeois couple Jean-Louis (Fabrice Luchini, Potiche) and Suzanne (Kiberlain) is turned upside-down when they hire a Spanish maid named María (Verbeke). Through María, Jean-Louis is introduced to a wacky kind of alternative lifestyle on the building’s sixth floor, the servants’ quarters. There, he befriends a group of sassy Spanish maids, refugees of the Franco regime, who teach him there’s more to life than stocks and bonds, and whose influence on the house will ultimately transform everyone’s life.
Directed and co-written by Philippe Le Guay,...
- 2/1/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Directed by Mateo Gil, who wrote the screenplays for Agora, The Method, and Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes).
- 8/24/2011
- by Ryan Adams
- AwardsDaily.com
When Nobel Prize winning author José Saramago says that a book is “written in a language perfectly pitched for the subject matter, a ruthless dissection of a fast decaying society,” I can't help but do a double take. Not simply because Saramago is a prize winning author but because he himself is a master of the ruthless dissections of our quickly decaying society. The novel which received such high praise is Claudia Piñeiro's “Thursday Night Widows,” a book that is now getting a little attention on the big screen.
The film adaptation, Las viudas de los jueves (“Thursday Night Widows”), is directed by none other than Marcelo Piñeyro who some may remember as the man behind the 2005 job interview from hell thriller The Method, and tells the story of life behind the pearly gates of million dollar estates and country club dinners.
Three bodies lie at the bottom of...
The film adaptation, Las viudas de los jueves (“Thursday Night Widows”), is directed by none other than Marcelo Piñeyro who some may remember as the man behind the 2005 job interview from hell thriller The Method, and tells the story of life behind the pearly gates of million dollar estates and country club dinners.
Three bodies lie at the bottom of...
- 1/6/2010
- QuietEarth.us
MADRID -- Spain's Alquimia production house said Thursday that it has signed a five-picture deal with international sales agent Latido to handle worldwide rights on its 2004 slate and part of its 2005 slate. Latido, also known as Latin Beat, will handle sales outside of co-producing territories on Incautos, Condon Express, El Metodo Gronholm, Vidas Pequenas and Tu Vida en '65. "It is important to have a single shop handle all of my movies so that I can focus on marketing and promoting them," Alquimia CEO Francisco Ramos said in an interview. "It's much better than finding a sales agent each time I finish a movie and closing a deal." Incautos is finished, so screenings will start immediately, but Condon Express and El Metodo Gronholm are in postproduction and will make their market debuts with promos at the Berlin International Film Festival.
- 12/17/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.