Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Anya Taylor-Joy has claimed female actors don’t method act because they “can’t completely lose our minds”.
The method acting technique involves actors entirely immersing themselves in a role – with the BBC describing it as method actors “not simply playing the role – [but] being the character”.
They added: “The method actor feels the character’s emotions rather than acting them, which they do through exploring their own experiences and feelings.”
Famous method actors include Robert De Niro, who worked twelve-hour shifts as licensed taxicab driver in New York for weeks to prepare for his role in Taxi Driver, and Daniel Day Lewis, who refused to leave his wheelchair or use his legs off set in between scenes on My Left Foot.
In Day-Lewis’ case, crew members had to spoon feed him and carry him around the set.
Now Anya has opened up about the technique in an interview with Complex News, admitting that she has never tried it herself because she’s a woman.
She said: “If you’ll notice, women don’t method act because we have things to take care of, so we can’t completely lose our minds.
“I see acting as a controlled psychosis in a way. You’re pretending to be somebody else and having their thoughts 16 hours a day and moving like them, in their house, in their clothes. It’s like having a sister or a roommate check in up [there] for a little bit.”
The Queen’s Gambit star added that she’s “very grateful” to have people in her life who “understand and know that”.
She added: “Sometimes if it gets out of hand, they’ll call me by the character name and they’ll be like, ‘We need to check in again’.
“I can’t imagine keeping it up all the time because, again, you’re going to work with hundreds of people ― and it is your responsibility to be good to them and to help them do their best job.
“If you’re too invested in being an asshole, then that’s not gonna be very fun.”
Anya’s comments echo similar ones made by Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart, with the former calling the technique “a luxury women can’t afford” during an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2024.
She added: “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.”
While Twilight actress Kristen had a theory as to why method acting seems to be entirely limited to men.
She mused: “Performance is inherently vulnerable and therefore quite embarrassing and un-masculine.
“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?”
