The list of famous people offering their opinions on the infamous technique of method acting seems to be growing by the day. The most recent addition is actor Andrew Garfield. If you haven’t been keeping up, method acting, in which actors effectively live the lives of their characters off-screen, has recently been defended, criticised, and everything in between.
In a recent interview, Garfield added to the discussion about method acting and how people see it. Actors like Brian Cox and Mads Mikkelsen, among others, have recently criticised method acting as hazardous and arrogant. Although Garfield defended the acting method in his interview on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast.
As he talked about working on Martin Scorsese’s Silence, the actor reflected on his own experience. The actor said, “There [have] been a lot of misconceptions about what method acting is, I think. People are still acting in that way, and it’s not about being an a*****e to everyone on set.” Garfield remembered his personal experience with method acting as follows, “I had some pretty wild, trippy experiences from starving myself of sex and food at that time,” as per Variety.
Andrew portrayed a 17th-century Jesuit priest in the 2016 movie. According to reports, Garfield spent a year studying under Jesuit author Father James Martin, reading about and researching Catholicism, and engaging in spiritual practises in order to prepare for the role. For the part, the actor also observed celibacy for six months. After he started fasting for the role, Andrew’s physical metamorphosis for the movie was also noticeable.
Due to Succession actor Jeremy Strong’s New Yorker piece, method acting discussions have saw an unexpected surge in popularity. Brian Cox, Strong’s co-star, had later commented on the subject and expressed his concern for Strong and his hard method acting style. The actor’s former Serenity co-star, Anne Hathaway was among the famous people who advocated for him and his method of action.
