Hi. This is very thoughtful and perceptive. Thank you.
I'd like to offer a few observations.
"The Method." As you indicate, Brando didn't espouse it. When many people (not including you) talk about the Method, they are referring to a very general shift in the approach to acting that took off after the war. The real beginning, I suppose, was Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theatre and his theories of acting, which inspired the members of The Group Theatre. But the Method itself was theorized, taught and practiced by Lee Strasberg, and it was based on his particular interpretation of Stanislavsky. Stella Adler visited Stanislavsky in Paris, he told her he'd revised his theories, and she left the Group, broke with Strasberg and started her own studio. So did Sanford Meisner. I think Kazan had the right idea - that there were positives and negatives in all their approaches, but that in the end what mattered most was the work itself.
As an aside, when it comes to acting teachers, not enough attention has been paid to Viola Spolin and the whole tradition of improv that grew out of her work (Sam Wasson's great book IMPROV NATION is a must read). Secondly, there's Jeff Corey, who started his own acting school out of his house when he was blacklisted in the 50s. Among many other people, Jack Nicholson trained with Corey, along with many, many others, including Robert Towne and Sally Kellerman.
I think there are many performances that are so quietly concentrated that they go unnoticed and unremembered. They are not the kinds of performances that win awards or raves. You mentioned John Wayne in THE SEARCHERS and rightfully so. And he's just as great in RIO BRAVO, in a completely different key - just watch him riffling his way through a deck of cards as he talks to Ward Bond. Anthony Edwards in ZODIAC - a remarkable performance, and Elias Koteas is just as good in the same movie. De Niro and Duvall in TRUE CONFESSIONS. Cristin Milioti in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET. The actor who plays the husband in DOUBLE INDEMNITY. Greta Lee in PAST LIVES. Richard Farnsworth in COMES A HORSEMAN. G.D. Spradlin in anything…And as great as everyone is in JACKIE BROWN (possibly the best film that director will ever make), as much as I love Pam Grier and Samuel L. Jackson and Bridget Fonda and De Niro in the film, I think that Robert Forster gives one of the finest performances I've ever seen - not one false moment.
Thank you again for commenting, and I hope you enjoy the page and the podcast! I’m going to be interviewing the grandnephew of Joseph Mankiewicz soon, so look out for that one.
Max Von Sydow is consistently amazing, never more so than in that film (though he’s also quite stunning in Hannah and Her Sisters - his monologue about watching television is one of the all-time greats).
Thank you! And ditto to what Kazan said. I always took theories of acting with a very large grain of salt. 99% of what great actors do isn’t taught. They know how to do it, because they have great imaginations.
So much of a performance has to do with the way the person looks and sounds in the first place, and with how well the piece is written. David Mamet says someplace that when the script tells you to close the door, you don’t rely on your motivation or sense, memory, or anything. You walk across the stage and close the door. The audience fills in the rest.
Well… yes, he’s always great. And I think it’s a good idea to start with what he did with Bergman. Which is the origin of Woody Allen casting him in the first place. And in the Jan Troell movies with Liv Ullmann, THE EMIGRANTS and THE NEW LAND
I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on ‘bad acting’ too — and how much of this is purely subjective. Surely you’ve watched a wildly praised performance and thought, “Wait - but this is awful!”
Off the cuff, i’d say that so much has to do with the actor’s physical appearance to the point where sometimes we don’t even know if the person is a good or bad actor. I just re-watched the Man With No Name trilogy with my son. Clint Eastwood is terrific in those, but I don’t know how much of that has to do with “acting” or how much has to do with him looking like Clint Eastwood. Marilyn Monroe is great in Some Like It Hit, but is she a great actress? She’s terrible in so many other things.
I also think about John Wayne. We all know the story of when Howard Hawks saw the rushes for Red River and said, “ I didn’t know the son of a bitch could act!” of course he made movies where he phoned it in, but he made some where he’s as good as anyone in movies. Ditto Cary Grant.
I think I don’t really see too many performances where I say, that actor is terrible, as much as I think, that person was completely miscast.
Hi. This is very thoughtful and perceptive. Thank you.
I'd like to offer a few observations.
"The Method." As you indicate, Brando didn't espouse it. When many people (not including you) talk about the Method, they are referring to a very general shift in the approach to acting that took off after the war. The real beginning, I suppose, was Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theatre and his theories of acting, which inspired the members of The Group Theatre. But the Method itself was theorized, taught and practiced by Lee Strasberg, and it was based on his particular interpretation of Stanislavsky. Stella Adler visited Stanislavsky in Paris, he told her he'd revised his theories, and she left the Group, broke with Strasberg and started her own studio. So did Sanford Meisner. I think Kazan had the right idea - that there were positives and negatives in all their approaches, but that in the end what mattered most was the work itself.
As an aside, when it comes to acting teachers, not enough attention has been paid to Viola Spolin and the whole tradition of improv that grew out of her work (Sam Wasson's great book IMPROV NATION is a must read). Secondly, there's Jeff Corey, who started his own acting school out of his house when he was blacklisted in the 50s. Among many other people, Jack Nicholson trained with Corey, along with many, many others, including Robert Towne and Sally Kellerman.
I think there are many performances that are so quietly concentrated that they go unnoticed and unremembered. They are not the kinds of performances that win awards or raves. You mentioned John Wayne in THE SEARCHERS and rightfully so. And he's just as great in RIO BRAVO, in a completely different key - just watch him riffling his way through a deck of cards as he talks to Ward Bond. Anthony Edwards in ZODIAC - a remarkable performance, and Elias Koteas is just as good in the same movie. De Niro and Duvall in TRUE CONFESSIONS. Cristin Milioti in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET. The actor who plays the husband in DOUBLE INDEMNITY. Greta Lee in PAST LIVES. Richard Farnsworth in COMES A HORSEMAN. G.D. Spradlin in anything…And as great as everyone is in JACKIE BROWN (possibly the best film that director will ever make), as much as I love Pam Grier and Samuel L. Jackson and Bridget Fonda and De Niro in the film, I think that Robert Forster gives one of the finest performances I've ever seen - not one false moment.
I forgot Max Von Sydow in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR
Thank you again for commenting, and I hope you enjoy the page and the podcast! I’m going to be interviewing the grandnephew of Joseph Mankiewicz soon, so look out for that one.
Max Von Sydow is consistently amazing, never more so than in that film (though he’s also quite stunning in Hannah and Her Sisters - his monologue about watching television is one of the all-time greats).
Yes, that’s a great bit: “Can you imagine the level of mind that watches wrestling?”
“The worst are the fundamentalist preachers… If Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.”
Thank you! And ditto to what Kazan said. I always took theories of acting with a very large grain of salt. 99% of what great actors do isn’t taught. They know how to do it, because they have great imaginations.
So much of a performance has to do with the way the person looks and sounds in the first place, and with how well the piece is written. David Mamet says someplace that when the script tells you to close the door, you don’t rely on your motivation or sense, memory, or anything. You walk across the stage and close the door. The audience fills in the rest.
Well… yes, he’s always great. And I think it’s a good idea to start with what he did with Bergman. Which is the origin of Woody Allen casting him in the first place. And in the Jan Troell movies with Liv Ullmann, THE EMIGRANTS and THE NEW LAND
I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on ‘bad acting’ too — and how much of this is purely subjective. Surely you’ve watched a wildly praised performance and thought, “Wait - but this is awful!”
Off the cuff, i’d say that so much has to do with the actor’s physical appearance to the point where sometimes we don’t even know if the person is a good or bad actor. I just re-watched the Man With No Name trilogy with my son. Clint Eastwood is terrific in those, but I don’t know how much of that has to do with “acting” or how much has to do with him looking like Clint Eastwood. Marilyn Monroe is great in Some Like It Hit, but is she a great actress? She’s terrible in so many other things.
I also think about John Wayne. We all know the story of when Howard Hawks saw the rushes for Red River and said, “ I didn’t know the son of a bitch could act!” of course he made movies where he phoned it in, but he made some where he’s as good as anyone in movies. Ditto Cary Grant.
I think I don’t really see too many performances where I say, that actor is terrible, as much as I think, that person was completely miscast.