Al Pacino on Method Acting

I think every method actor has this profound moment in their work.

The ancient Greeks called it The Gods Descending.

It’s a hard one to explain but Al gives it a good go in his memoir, Sonny Boy.

He said this about one of his early performances on stage:

Just about every method actor I have talked with has a version of this. It happens to them at some point, usually early on, and that’s what takes them down the method acting rabbit hole. They want to experience it again, and deeper still.

They all talk about it as a profound spiritual experience.

It happened to me when I was in an am dram production, my first time on stage as it happens, and I will never forget it. It’s just as Al describes: you become completely at one with the material and your own physical being seems to have no bounds.

All I can tell you is that once this is experienced there is no going back. This is why method actors are disgusted with “My dear boy, why don’t you try acting?” comments. It offends them to the soul because they feel there is something so much deeper to their experience than that.

Bill Nighy once said that anyone who thinks an actor has to feel everything they portray is basically an amateur. I actually feel sad when I hear this, sad for the actor and for the work, because it will always lack the magic Al describes. It may work on some level, but don’t we want to experience that magic? The impact it has on the watcher is profound. It hits them in a different spot, usually in the gut, and takes them to a deeper level.

Anyway, enough idle method banter.