At the weekend, I was talking to one of my former Ultimate Acting students who is now a pro actor.
He said he was working on a job and a crew member asked if he was a method man.
He said he was.
The reply that came back shocked him.
“How long do you method?”
He said, “Eh? What do you mean how long do I method?”
“You know, how long to get into character and do weird stuff?”
Ah, the innocence and naivety of the uninitiated.
You see, there is so much rubbish in the media about people doing weird and bizarre things all in the name of the method, that people don’t know the difference between the lies and the truth.
(Strasberg is probably birling in his grave!)
Now, the above statement by this crew member is wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to start…but let me give it a try.
The method is not about weird stuff, it’s a “method”.
When you bake a cake (not that I ever do because I’m a hard arse from Glasgow) the recipe outlines ingredients and guess what….a METHOD!
Change an ingredient and what do you get?…..a crap cake.
Change the method and what do you get?….a crap cake.
Following the instructions to the letter you get a big nice fluffy cake for tea.
(Not that I eat spongy, moist, Victoria sponge cakes because I’m a hard arse from Glasgow).
Now, if you were to elongate the method of making the cake would it make a better cake?
Nope. In fact, it could make it worse.
So, you see it’s not how long your method is, it’s how you use it that counts.
(Like so many other things in life)
Something to think about!
Brian