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Method Acting (also referred to as "the Method") is explained in the seminal work titled An Actor Prepares by Russian director and theater practitioner Konstantin Stanislavsky. Credited with creating the acting technique through his book, actors are asked by Stanislavsky to pinpoint the factors that propel and inspire their characters. By doing this, the performer embodies the character not only on-screen but also in real life.
Since then method acting has been adopted by several renowned actors, with names like Daniel-Day Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Marlon Brando, and Al Pacino, being associated with the method. The 2024 Academy Awards saw Cillian Murphy bag the Oscar award in the Best Actor category. He played nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer and went to great lengths to aptly portray the scientist.
This article explores what goes behind method acting and how popular narrative sometimes strays away from it.
Method Acting and its Myths
Cillian Murphy has received widespread acclaim for his role as Robert J. Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer and was honored with an Academy Award for the same on March 11, 2024. It was not only Cillian Murphy who got into the skin of his character. Fellow nominee, Bradley Cooper, spent almost six years preparing for his role as Leonard Bernstein in the film Maestro.
Method acting is a psychological technique of performance intended to make the character seem more real and believable. Actors like Murphy and Cooper completely embodied their characters off-set to pick up every mannerism.
However, contrary to popular belief, the method acting does not involve an actor recreating the circumstances faced by the characters, in real life. As per Stanislavsky's book, method acting is rather an exercise where an actor imagines what they would do if their character faced a certain situation.
A myth surrounding method acting is that an actor has to lose themselves in their character to transform themselves. The acting technique rather involves an actor tapping deep into their senses to invoke responses true to the role they want to play.
Popular narratives often view method actors as people who completely lose themselves to portray a character. The name of Heath Ledger is often associated with this narrative as he passed away from a drug overdose following the portrayal of the deranged lunatic Joker in The Dark Knight. However, it was not the method that led to his demise, but rather an accidental overdose of medication, as per CBS News.
Actors like Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, and Marlon Brando have been popular method actors and their approach has served them well. While there is no right way to approach how an actor decides to play a character, an increasing obsession with method acting often blurs the lines between the actors' performances and the route they take to deliver that performance.
Ultimately, the Method is just an exercise that teaches actors how to reach an emotional truth level that they can use in any given textual scenario. The actor uses this inner reality as emotional fuel to give the scene a realistic, full life.
Is Oppenheimer actor Cillian Murphy a method actor?
Cillian Murphy lost nearly 20 pounds to mimic the look of nuclear scientist Robert J. Oppenheimer for the film Oppenheimer. He even took up smoking herbal cigarettes to accurately portray the smoking characteristics of the scientist.
His intense preparation for the role has been attributed to method acting. However, the actor stated that he did not undergo any such procedures to prepare for the role. In a 2023 interview, the Guardian raised the question about the same and the actor replied saying:
"Method acting is a sort of … No,"
Nevertheless, the role of Oppenheimer was extremely demanding and Murphy did his homework to accurately portray every characteristic. In an interview with NME, he said:
"I didn’t go out much. I didn’t socialize much, mainly because of the amount of work I had to do…. I became so immersed in the role."
Even though the procedure adopted by Cillian Murphy cannot be confirmed, and his methods are ultimately only known to him, the actor's hard work has paid off, with him getting a nod for Best Actor at the 2024 Academy Awards.
