Angela Walters graduated from the Ultimate Acting Programme and won a role on Emmerdale playing Dr. Lighton and a role in the feature film Mob Handed.
This is what she said about the programme:
“I choose the Method because you can be who you really are. You can tap into your own emotions and experiences and project that on to the screen or on the stage. It’s changed me in a massive way. It’s absolutely brilliant!” – Angela Walters
Lauren Willis graduated from the Ultimate Acting Programme and has appeared in various TV, Film and Theatre projects. One of the feature films she appeared in won an International Film Award.
This is what she said after the programme:
“I have to thank Brian and his training and this course for where I am today. It was the most amazing experience and it really set me up to go out there in the world and take on whatever comes my way, so thank you!” – Lauren Willis
Since graduating from my Ultimate Acting Programme, Damien Gerard relocated to Los Angeles and has appeared in Our Flag Means Death (HBO), Three Days To Live (NBC Universal), Isolation (Apple TV)
This is what he had to say about the programme:
“The Ultimate Acting Programme will help you to remove your blocks and give you the tools you need to nail those auditions. Thanks to Brian’s help, I secured the lead role in a US-funded feature film called Culture Shock purely by approaching the audition differently from everyone else and standing out to the casting director. Brian is an amazing teacher and you will not only learn how to be more authentic and ‘real’ on stage but he will teach you the often ignored business side of the industry too.” – Damien Gerard
Dean graduated from the Ultimate Acting Programme and went on to win Best Supporting Actor at the ZAAFA Global Awards for his role in Ortega and His Enemies.
This is what he had to say about the programme:
“My classroom experiences with Brian and Joe were absolutely amazing and so eye-opening. I’ve left this course, so much more confident than I was and so much knowledge now into the acting industry that I can now move on with and put into practice. I would just like to say thank you again and anyone out there, get on this course because if you don’t you’re missing out!” – Dean Ekperigin
Graduating from the Ultimate Acting Programme, Gareth Lawrence won a role in Stephen King’s film Night Surf and has appeared in 16 feature films.
This is what he had to say after completing the programme:
“This truly is Method acting gladiator school, astonishingly talented and passionate teachers whose only wish is to impart their knowledge to the select band of students and produce highly accomplished and very marketable method actors.”” – Gareth Lawrence
Graduating from the Ultimate Acting Programme, Marcus Massey has worked 650 days as an actor over a three-year period. He has appeared in various TV, Film and Theatre projects. His testimonial video above was recorded in Business Class on a flight to Thailand to appear in a feature film.
The next woman who takes me on is gonna light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars
Randle P. McMurphy (played by Jack Nicholson)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
There are very few actors who could pull off this line with such enigmatic charisma as Jack Nicholson.
He is, of course, a method actor.
Jack stops at nothing when creating and investigating a character.
When he was offered a part that required him to be naked he decided to go naked for a month in his home. No matter who turned up, Jack was starkers.
He said “I decided I would get over being self-conscious about nudity, so I lived in my house as a nudist. Once I decide to do something I don’t do it partially, so I was nude no matter who came by.” That included his sister!
You should read the above again because it gives you an insight into how great actors think.
They don’t do this partially. It’s all or nothing and they will stop at nothing in exploring their art. They don’t care if it’s appropriate or not. They just want to get deeper into what they are playing.
Don’t you just love Jack?
He once said, “I’m the guy who’s at odds with the establishment but whom they’d love to have to dinner.”
How true.
Again, there is a message in the quote.
Ready to become a method master like Jack?
I might be able to help. I say might because I don’t accept everyone and you have to EARN your place.
That starts with the auditions on April 13th.
https://www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk/ultimate/
Brian
“Acting is the most personal of our crafts. The makeup of a human being – his physical, mental and emotional habits – influence his acting to a much greater extent than commonly recognized”
Lee Strasberg
Emotions make up the core components of the method actors instrument.
If you cannot access or identify with your emotions, no tools or level of technique will make you a great method actor. In fact, a great actor must be able to tap into emotions above and beyond their experience level. They must be able to express themselves and their character in a way that will often take them far out of their comfort zone.
In the actor’s attempt to show the human condition, warts and all, he or she must be able to get to grips with the complete wheel of human emotion.
The Wheel Of Emotion
“An actor needs to be able to experience and express at a level that most people cannot do or would not be comfortable with”
The Ultimate Guide To Method Acting
As a method actor trying to tap into the emotions of your character, there will be some emotions that you can access easily, while others will less familiar to you. It all depends on your past, your conditioning and your individual habits.
Tuning the key components of your method-acting instrument is about becoming more in-balance with the cross section of emotions, or a perfectly round Wheel of Emotion.
For each emotion on the diagram above, rate yourself out of ten. If you find an emotion easy to express, rate it a ten and draw a line at the appropriate level. At the opposite end, if you think an emotion is totally without the realms of your expression, give it a one.
Do this for each emotion, drawing a line at the correct level for each one. How rounded is your wheel of emotion? If it was the wheel of a car, would the car run smoothly, or would it be a bumpy ride?
Don’t worry if it is all over the place. That is to be expected early on in the process. Part of becoming an accomplished method actor is gradually smoothing out your wheel of emotion over time through practice.
How Can I Practice Emotions?
“Acting can literally save your life”
The Ultimate Guide To Method Acting
In modern society, we are very good at bottling up our emotions, often to the detriment of our health. A study by Harvard University, in fact, found that premature death from all causes increases by 35% among those who fail to express their emotions.
Using the Wheel of Emotion, actors can identify the emotions that they keep locked up, and work on letting them out. It can be a long, uncomfortable and challenging process, but you will emerge more accomplished as an actor, and a more rounded human being, by the end.
“Nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing students go from emotion suppressers to emotion expressers”
The Ultimate Guide To Method Acting
If you would like to know more about the Wheel of Emotion, why not pick up a copy of my new book. If you are looking for more formal training in method acting techniques, we have a range of classes. I’m sure we can find the right one for you!
I got this email the other day.
Now, it was a long (but interesting) email, so I have cherry picked the nub of the issue:
“Many of your emails celebrate the genius and greatness of actors such as Brando and McQueen and how by learning the Method and studying hard any actor could potentially reach those heady heights. Which may be true, although it seems that many of these ‘greats’ became good at acting and utilising the Method not only through practice but also the intensity of their emotional past.
(Then there was a bit about how Brando and other method actors seem to have tortured souls and continues…)
I was wondering if you ever go into detail discussing this more murky and dark side of acting in ‘Your Ultimate Acting Course’ and if you believe that the best Method actors are indeed people who have suffered great trauma, can more ‘together’ individuals ever be as great?” Tom
So, where to begin?
First off, it’s important to realise we all have an emotional past. Some are more traumatic than others, but this doesn’t matter.
When you are creating a character you are trying to inject them with correct emotion. As humans, we all experience all the major emotions. Intensity may vary but we experience them all.
The trick therefore is to use your experience to generate the correct emotion and fuse it with the character.
Now, you may be thinking that method actors are always using big traumatic events to fuel emotion. Not so. Sometimes we use simple, innocuous experiences to create an illusion.
For example, there was an actress friend of mine who was appearing in a West End show and needed to create the illusion that she wanted and desired her co-star, to the point where she rips his clothes off. Now, she wasn’t on the best of terms with this guy, but she managed to do it.
Guess what she thought of?
Eating a huge bowl of cornflakes. She said she loved them and devoured them every night after the show, so she used this to devour him on stage.
For me as an actor, I know that if I need to create a hysterical reaction then all I need to do is think of swimming in a cold lake. Don’t ask me why, it just does.
As you learn the technique you discover all kinds of experiences, many of which are simple, that cause particular reactions in you.
So, you see, you don’t need to delve into dark and murky areas to be a great method actor.
That said, I do believe that method actors become very sensitive and expressive due to the training. This can mean that they are impacted more by life events than others.
I actually think this is a good thing. It means you experience more of life – the good and the bad.
Here endith today’s lesson.
Brian
https://www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk
Now, last week I talked about how Steve McQueen took lines out of scripts and how Marlon Brando didn’t learn lines at all.
Well, Marlon had another approach he used on set that no one knew about.
When he walked on set, he would look at the crew, the director and the actors and think to himself “I don’t give a fugk what any of you think of me”.
I’m not making this up. In a recent documentary (Talk To Me Marlon) he said that was the best way to get rid of any fear.
You see, fear can cripple an actor’s work and Marlon’s approach released him from fear of judgment.
What’s interesting is that even Marlon one of the greatest method actors ever, had to overcome fear.
Try it out and see how you go.
Brian