What is Method Acting? Method Acting Explained

Method Acting is an acting technique, which encourages sincere and emotional performances. It is based on several different theater acting coaches. 

What is Method Acting?

Method acting is built on Stanislavski’s acting system. It was developed by Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski. Stanislavski explained the in books An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role.

Three teachers are also associated with setting the standards of success with Method acting. These include:

• Lee Strasberg, who focused on the psychological aspects of method acting. 
• Stella Adler, who focused on the sociological aspects
• Sanford Meisner, who focused on the behavioral aspects.

The approach was first developed and worked together in New York at the Group Theater.

Stanislavski’s system

In the early 20th Century, Konstantin Stanislavski organized his acting training, preparation, and rehearsal techniques into a systematic acting method.

Stanislavski calls “the art of experiencing” a crucial part of Method Acting instead of the “Art of representation.” Stanislavski’s system uses the actor’s conscious thought to activate other less-controllable psychological behavior such as emotional experiences and subconscious behavior. In rehearsal, the actor is looking for psychological triggers to justify the action and movement the actor wants to achieve at any given moment. 

Stanislavski later elaborated the “system” with “Method of Physical Action,” which focuses less on preparation and more on improvisation of feelings and emotions. 

Yevgeny Vakhtangov, a Russian-Armenian student, was an important influence of Method Acting. Despite dying at the age of 39, Vakhtangov’s object acting exercises were further developed by Uta Hagen as a way for an actor to train and maintain their acting skills. Strasberg says the difference between Stanislavski and Vakhtangov is justifying behavior by understanding the character’s motivations rather than psychological improvisation. 

Actors must ask themselves, “What would motivate me to behave in the way the character does?” 

The Stanislavskian question “Given the particular circumstances of the play, how would I behave, what would I do, how would I feel, how would I react?”

Method acting reached the United States in the early 1920s with the touring Moscow Art Theater company. Richard Boleslawski, one of Stanislavski’s students, presented a series of classes on the “System,” which were eventually published in the book Acting: The First Six Lessons (1933). 

Imagination and Emotions

One of the core concepts and techniques of method acting is affective memory or emotion memory. Affective memory requires actors to recall details from a similar situation and use those feelings for their character. Stanislavski argued actors need to take emotion and personality to the stage and use it when playing their character.

In training and rehearsal, the recollection of emotions provoke a behavioral response and is central to Method-based acting techniques. 

There is a misconception about method acting, which conflates method actors with actors who choose to remain in character, even offstage or off-camera. In his book A Dream of Russian Passion, Strasberg wrote that Stanislavski “require[d] his actors to live ‘in character’ offstage,” but that “the results were never fully satisfactory.”

Stanislavski did experiment with his approach with his own acting, though he soon abandoned it. Some method actors still use this technique, including Daniel Day-Lewis, but Strasberg does say this is not method acting.

Evolution of Method Acting

Stella Adler, an actress and acting teacher who taught famous actors, including Marlon Brando and Rober De Niro, also changed her techniques after studying with Stanislavski. Her version of method acting is based on the premise actors should stimulate emotional experience by imagining the scene’s circumstances rather than recalling previous experiences. Adler’s approach to acting stimulates the actor’s imagination instead of remembering earlier experiences.

Psychological effects of method acting.

When an actor recalls previous emotional experiences, especially traumatic experiences, it can disrupt the actor’s mind. The psychological effects include emotional fatigue, which can occur when suppressed or unresolved issues are called to add to a character. 

Another type of acting called “Surface Acting” involves changing one’s actions without recalling previous emotional experiences. When done correctly, method acting is also “Deep Acting,” where you change a character’s thoughts, emotions, and actions by recalling previous experiences. Constant negative thoughts and recollection can lead to adverse side effects, including fear, anxiety, and feelings of shame.

List of Method Actors and Actors Who Tried Method Acting:

• Will Arnett
• Manoj Bajpayee
• Alec Baldwin
• Christian Bale
• Anne Bancroft
• Warren Beatty
• Paula Beer
• Candice Bergen
• Jon Bernthal
• Halle Berry
• Cate Blanchett
• Richard Boone
• Chadwick Boseman
• Marlon Brando
• Jeff Bridges
• Adrien Brody
• Rachel Brosnahan
• Ellen Burstyn
• Nicolas Cage
• Michael Caine
• Antonia Campbell-Hughes
• Robert Carlyle
• Jim Carrey
• John Cassavetes
• Jackie Chan
• Hayden Christensen
• Jill Clayburgh
• Montgomery Clift
• James Coburn
• Sacha Baron Cohen
• Bradley Cooper
• Kevin Corrigan
• Bud Cort
• Bryan Cranston
• Tom Cruise
• Benedict Cumberbatch
• Matt Damon
• Claire Danes
• Bette Davis
• Rosario Dawson
• Daniel Day-Lewis
• James Dean
• Robert De Niro
• Benicio del Toro
• Johnny Depp
• Laura Dern
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Kim Dickens
• Matt Dillon
• Vincent D’Onofrio
• Robert Downey, Jr.
• Adam Driver
• Faye Dunaway
• Aaron Eckhart
• Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Cary Elwes
• Kathryn Erbe
• Chris Evans
• Daniel Ezra
• Michael Fassbender
• Sally Field
• Ralph Fiennes
• Bridget Fonda
• Jane Fonda
• Jamie Foxx
• James Franco
• Lady Gaga
• James Gandolfini
• Andrew Garfield
• Judy Garland
• Ben Gazzara
• Donald Glover
• Jeff Goldblum
• Ryan Gosling
• Jake Gyllenhaal
• Kamal Haasan
• Linda Hamilton
• Armie Hammer
• Tom Hanks
• Tom Hardy
• Ed Harris
• Julie Harris
• Anne Hathaway
• Sally Hawkins[
• Dustin Hoffman
• Philip Seymour Hoffman
• Dennis Hopper
• Michael Ironside
• Jeremy Irvine
• Scarlett Johansson
• Angelina Jolie
• Felicity Jones
• Diane Keaton
• Michael Keaton
• Val Kilmer
• Nicole Kidman
• Shia LaBeouf
• Heath Ledger
• John Leguizamo
• Jared Leto
• Karl Malden
• Rooney Mara
• Jesse L. Martin
• Matthew McConaughey
• Steve McQueen
• Sienna Miller
• Marilyn Monroe
• Kate Mulgrew
• Donna Murphy
• Judd Nelson
• Paul Newman
• Jack Nicholson
• Leonard Nimoy
• Edward Norton
• Lupita Nyong’o
• Bob Odenkirk
• Gary Oldman
• Jerry Orbach
• David Oyelowo
• Al Pacino
• Geraldine Page
• Andrés Parra
• Estelle Parsons
• Robert Pattinson
• Sean Penn
• George Peppard
• Joaquin Phoenix
• Brad Pitt
• Sidney Poitier
• Natalie Portman
• Anthony Quinn
• Charlotte Rampling
• Christopher Reeve
• Alan Rickman
• Krysten Ritter
• Margot Robbie
• Julia Roberts
• Mickey Rourke
• Peter Sellers
• Andy Serkis
• Chloë Sevigny
• Martin Sheen
• Will Smith
• Wesley Snipe
• Sissy Spacek
• Kevin Spacey
• Sylvester Stallone
• Rod Steiger
• Eric Stoltz
• Meryl Streep
• Barbra Streisand
• Elaine Stritch
• Jeremy Strong
• David Suchet
• Hilary Swank
• Tilda Swinton
• Miles Teller
• Shirley Temple
• Charlize Theron
• Marlo Thomas
• Billy Bob Thornton
• Uma Thurman
• Rip Torn
• Indira Varma
• Jon Voight
• Eli Wallach
• Christoph Waltz
• Hannah Ware
• Denzel Washington
• Forest Whitaker
• Gene Wilder[
• Michelle Williams
• Robin Williams
• Chandra Wilson
• Kate Winslet
• Shelley Winters
• Joanne Woodward

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