Kristen Stewart recently discussed why men do method acting during her New York Times interview. This took another tangent while talking about her film, ‘ The Chronology of Water,’ the idea of method acting became genderised.
She claimed, “Performance is inherently vulnerable and therefore quite embarrassing and unmasculine. There’s no bravado in suggesting that you’re a mouthpiece for someone else’s ideas. It’s inherently submissive. Have you ever heard of a female actor that was method?”
When the interviewer responded with the nuance of ‘teacher, Stella Adler,’ Kristen goes on to say, “Right. Men are aggrandized for retaining self. Brando sounds like a hero, doesn’t he? If a woman did that, it would be different. If you have to do 50 push-ups before your close-up or refuse to say a word a certain way — I mean, Brando, [expletive], I’m not coming for him. [Stewart makes a face like maybe she is.] There’s a common act that happens before the acting happens on set: If they can protrude out of the vulnerability and feel like a gorilla pounding their chest before they cry on camera, it’s a little less embarrassing. It also makes it seem like a magic trick, like it is so impossible to do what you’re doing that nobody else could do it.”
“Have you ever heard of a female actor that was method?” Kristen Stewart has been acting since she was a child and became a star in her late teens in the “Twilight” series. Now 35, her first feature film as a director is in select theaters. pic.twitter.com/4JKDSDCKhU
A method actor does more than just portray a role; they become the character. Natalie Portman described method acting in a conversation with the Wall Street Journal as a luxury reserved for a select few who can appreciate it. She said that the approach is only feasible for those who value their vocation as an actress above all else.
She said in her own words, “I’ve gotten very into roles, but I think it’s honestly a luxury that women can’t afford. I don’t think that children or partners would be very understanding of, you know, me making everyone call me ‘Jackie Kennedy’ all the time,” she said, referring to her Oscar-nominated role in the 2016 biopic “Jackie.”
Portman began every day at seven in the morning, she told the Wall Street Journal. “I wake up the kids and get them ready for school — not very exciting — make them breakfast, take them to school, and come back and walk the dogs.” When Charlize Theron attempted method acting for her role in The Devil’s Advocate at the filmmaker’s request, she called it “exhausting” and stated that it made her “miserable.” The director pushed the cast to stay in character during filming because he loved method acting.
She shared, “I realized on that film that that was definitely not a process that was gonna work for me. There was something so exhausting about it. My life was miserable. I wasn’t happy. And then of course you worry because then you’re like, well, if I don’t do that, then maybe I won’t be as good as the Marlon Brando’s and Monty Clift’s’ and you read all these biographies… And then I did some work, non-method, and I was actually really happy with the work. I think for me, having the energy to be able to go a lot further in darker material is way more helpful than being exhausted. When I’m exhausted, I’m just tired. I almost don’t want to go in the dark room. So I made it a real discipline. I think dance really helped me with this. I work, I leave it behind.”
There has been a plethora of debates about how men are pioneers of method acting and women are sidelined. This context is up for debate. Let us know in the comments what you all think.
