15 most extreme Method acting performances: Jeremy Strong to Jared Leto
The one consensus about Method acting is that it’s controversial. Other than that, everything’s up for debate: What is Method acting, exactly? Do actors and audiences love it or hate it? And, perhaps most importantly, who can afford to practice the technique?
Method acting is a technique in which an actor embodies a character absolutely, usually both on- and off-camera, for months at a time (and sometimes, as in the curious case of Austin Butler’s Elvis accent, beyond the project itself).
Some actors, like those in the list below — including Daniel Day-Lewis, Christian Bale and Robert De Niro — swear by it. But others — like Brian Cox, Toni Collette and Robert Pattinson — eschew the practice. (Collette called it “total bulls—” and “utter wankery,” and Jennifer Lawrence said that working with a Method actor would make her nervous.)
Female actors — like Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Natalie Portman, Anya Taylor-Joy and Ellen Burstyn — have pointed out that it’s a luxury they can’t afford. (“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,” Portman said about portraying the first lady.) And Black actors — like Brian Tyree Henry and Omari Hardwick — have said they wouldn’t be able to do it safely. (“I’ve never gone full Method,” Hardwick said. “I don’t want to be pulled over while ‘driving while Method.’ … I’ll get in trouble for that. That’s scarier.”)
Jeremy Strong — who plays Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Reckoning” — recently defended his commitment to Method acting. Here are some of the most extreme Method acting performances of all time.
Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy in “Succession.”
(Macall Polay / HBO)
Jeremy Strong (again)
Strong is known for his unrelenting adherence to Method acting, especially on the set of “Succession.” (“The result that Jeremy gets is always pretty tremendous,” his TV dad Cox told the New Yorker in 2021. “I just worry about what he does to himself. I worry about the crises he puts himself through in order to prepare. … It’s a particularly American disease, I think, this inability to separate yourself off while you’re doing the job.”)
This tendency held true on the set of “The Social Reckoning” too. “He showed up walking like Mark, talking like Mark,” director Aaron Sorkin told Entertainment Weekly. “I heard crew members on set call him Mark. I never heard him use his own voice until after I called ‘cut’ on his last shot.”
“I’ll be honest, I think this isn’t just the way he likes to do it,” Sorkin added. “I think it’s the only way he knows how to do it.”
Andrew Garfield as Father Sebastião Rodrigues in “Silence.”
(Kerry Brown / Paramount Pictures)
Andrew Garfield
Then there are those who argue that the Method is misunderstood — first by actors, and subsequently by public perception.
“I’m kind of bothered by this idea that ‘Method acting is f— bulls—,’” Andrew Garfield said on the “WTF With Marc Maron” podcast in 2022. “No, I don’t think you know what Method acting is if you’re calling it bulls—, or you just worked with someone who claims to be a Method actor who isn’t actually acting the Method at all. It’s also very private. I don’t want people to see the f— pipes of my toilet. I don’t want them to see how I’m making the sausage.”
Garfield employed the Method in Martin Scorsese’s 2016 historical drama “Silence,” in which he played a 17th-century Portuguese Jesuit missionary who goes to Japan. He studied Catholicism with Jesuit priest James Martin, partook in the 31-day Ignatian Spiritual Exercises and denied himself food and sex.
Al Pacino as Tony Montana in “Scarface.”
(Universal Studios / Universal Pictures)
Al Pacino
On that same podcast, Garfield praised two actors known for applying the Method well and seemingly with respect — to the craft and those around them: Al Pacino, especially in “Dog Day Afternoon,” and Robert De Niro, most notably in “The Mission.”
In “Dog Day Afternoon,” Pacino played Sonny Wortzik (based on John Wojtowicz), a first-time crook whose attempt to rob First Brooklyn Savings Bank goes awry and devolves into a hostage situation. Pacino backed out of the role three times before committing (though he later won a BAFTA Award for the performance).
Producer Martin Bregman attributed this hesitancy to Pacino’s Method acting, saying this might have been a world the actor didn’t want to explore, as “no major star had ever played a gay.”
“Scarface” drug kingpin Tony Montana is also considered the pinnacle of Pacino’s Method acting. “I’ve never been that committed to a role,” he said, also on “WTF With Marc Maron.” “I mean, I was there. I said, ‘I am this guy.’”
Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver.”
(Columbia Pictures)
Robert De Niro
In “The Mission,” De Niro stars as Captain Rodrigo Mendoza, a mercenary, slave trader and guest of the Spanish governor of 18th-century Paraguay. Jeremy Irons co-stars as Jesuit priest Father Gabriel, who challenges Mendoza to undergo penance.
De Niro channeled real-life tension with Irons — who he didn’t want cast for the role — into on-screen animosity between the two characters.
And then there’s “Taxi Driver” — for which he got a real New York City cab license and drove 15 hours a day for a month — and “Raging Bull” — when he trained with the boxer he portrays, Jake LaMotta, for over 1,000 rounds — making him a quintessential Method actor.
Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in “House of Gucci.”
(Metro Goldwyn Mayer)
Lady Gaga
There are also counterexamples of the limitations Method acting often places on women and actors of color. (Theron told The Times in 2020 that, “I can’t do the Method thing. I did it once, for ‘Devil’s Advocate,’ and I was just exhausted. It was really hard to go to those deep, dark places because I was so tired.”)
Lady Gaga, though, lived as Italian socialite Patrizia Reggiani for a year and a half while working on “House of Gucci.” She spoke with a thick Italian accent for nine months, both on- and off-camera.
“I was either in my hotel room, living and speaking as Reggiani, or I was on set, living and speaking as her,” Gaga told British Vogue. “I remember I went out into Italy one day with a hat on to take a walk. I hadn’t taken a walk in about two months and I panicked. I thought I was on a movie set.”
Jared Leto as the Joker in “Suicide Squad.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
Jared Leto
Jared Leto also starred in “House of Gucci,” as Paolo Gucci, who aspires to be a designer, despite his apparent lack of talent.
“He works in a very similar fashion,” director Ridley Scott told Vulture. “Once he goes in, it’s like he’s immersed, and he doesn’t come out and breathe for air until he’s finished.”
Leto is infamous for his extreme and controversial approach to the Method. As the Joker in “Suicide Squad,” he sent bizarre “gifts” — a live rat, a dead pig, bullets, anal beads and used condoms — to co-stars Will Smith and Margot Robbie to create a dynamic of “surprise and spontaneity.”
“Leto’s Joker is the latest evidence that the prestige of method acting has dimmed,” essayist Angelica Jade Bastién wrote in the Atlantic, “thanks to the technique’s overuse by those seeking award-season glory or a reputation boost, as well as its history of being shaped by destructive ideas of masculinity.”
Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker in “Joker.”
(Niko Tavernise / Warner Bros. Pictures)
Joaquin Phoenix
The Joker seems to elicit intense psychological commitment like moths to a ghastly green flame. Joaquin Phoenix didn’t quite go Method to play him in “Joker” and “Joker: Folie à Deux,” but he did shed 52 pounds for the role.
“And, as it turns out, that then affects your psychology,” Phoenix told the Daily Beast. “You start to go mad when you lose that amount of weight in that amount of time.” (Heath Ledger walked that same fine line for “The Dark Knight.”)
For his role in “The Master,” as Freddie Quell, a World War II Navy veteran struggling to adjust to a postwar society, Phoenix forced himself to talk out of one side of his mouth by asking the dentist to fasten metal brackets to his teeth.
Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in “Ray.”
(Nicola Goode / Universal Pictures)
Jamie Foxx
Taylor Hackford, the director of “Ray” — a biopic about Ray Charles — asked Jamie Foxx, who starred as the blind soul musician, to have his eyes glued shut. This was not Foxx’s idea (perhaps a key tenet of the Method), but he agreed to it.
“Imagine having your eyes glued shut for 14 hours a day,” Foxx told the New York Times. “That’s your jail sentence.” For the first two weeks of filming, the actor suffered panic attacks, until he eventually got used to the claustrophobic sensation.
Years later, on the set of “Django Unchained,” Foxx and co-star Leonardo DiCaprio discussed embracing Method acting to help both of them better handle the disturbing material. (DiCaprio plays the ruthless owner of a plantation where Foxx’s character’s wife is enslaved.)
Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass in “The Revenant.”
(Kimberley French / 20th Century Fox)
Leonardo DiCaprio
The film for which DiCaprio finally won an Oscar (after four previous lead actor nominations, plus one for supporting actor) was also his most Method approach. As fur trapper Hugh Glass in “The Revenant,” DiCaprio crawled inside of a prop horse carcass, ate raw bison liver (despite being a vegetarian) and endured freezing temperatures, his icy breath fogging up the camera lens.
Like Phoenix, DiCaprio might not be a traditional Method actor, but he comes quite close. In 2016, after his “Revenant” nom, director Agnieszka Holland — who directed DiCaprio in “Total Eclipse,” before he filmed “Romeo + Juliet” — reflected on this.
She said he has never been a classic American Method actor, instead relying on personal experience. “But he’s doing some trick which is pretty mysterious to everyone watching — frankly even for the director,” she told the BBC. “Look at him on screen and, for the moment of the shot, he really becomes the character.”
Montgomery Clift as George Eastman and Elizabeth Taylor as Angela Vickers in “A Place in the Sun.”
(Getty Images)
Montgomery Clift
And then there are the true, original Hollywood Method actors. Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando and James Dean are considered to have christened the technique in the 1950s. Even Clift, though, expressed reservations about the term when asked about it — “Method acting,” as it turns out, is a contentious phrase.
Method acting began with Russian/Soviet theatermaker Konstantin Stanislavski in the 1930s. From there, acting coach and actor Lee Strasberg — who co-founded the Group Theater — largely coined “the Method” in America. Group members Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner eventually left and rejected parts of Strasberg’s technique. All three of them approached the Method slightly differently, and became prominent acting teachers.
Clift was among the first actors invited to study in the Actors Studio with Strasberg and Elia Kazan. His role as George Eastman, the poor nephew of a rich industrialist, in “A Place in the Sun” is considered a landmark Method acting performance.
Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski in “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
(Cineclassico / Alamy / Warner Bros. Pictures)
Marlon Brando
Clift and Brando were both contemporaries and, at times, acting rivals. But Brando was so moved by Clift’s performance in “A Place in the Sun” that he voted for him to win the 1952 Academy Award for lead actor — Clift, meanwhile, voted for Brando to win for his role as Stanley Kowalski in “A Streetcar Named Desire” the same year. (Humphrey Bogart ended up victorious for his role as Charlie Allnut in “The African Queen.”)
“A Streetcar Named Desire” — both the original 1947 Broadway production and the 1951 film adaptation — was directed by Actors Studio co-founder Kazan. Brando also starred in both versions, and, though his performance was temperamental, Kazan said: “Marlon was living on stage. … A performance miracle was in the making. What was there to do but be grateful?”
James Dean as Cal Trask and Julie Harris as Abra Bacon in “East of Eden.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
James Dean
James Dean only got the chance to star in three films — “East of Eden,” “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant” — before he died at 24, and the latter two were released after his death. Prior to all three, though, he also studied at the Actors Studio under Strasberg.
In “East of Eden,” also directed by Kazan, Dean played the wayward young man Cal Trask, who competes against his (favored) twin brother (played by Richard Davalos) for the affection of their pious father. Dean had a turbulent relationship with his own father, and his mother died when he was 9. (The Trask brothers’ mother is ostensibly dead too.)
“One of the things that made [Dean] noticed,” actor Martin Landau told PBS, “was his vulnerability. He understood a mother he didn’t have. … ‘East of Eden’ was like a chance to meet his mother again, if one accepts that.”
Ruth McCabe as Mary and Daniel Day-Lewis as Christy Brown in “My Left Foot.”
(Miramax)
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis is perhaps the closest contemporary follower in Clift, Brando and Dean‘s footsteps. He has won a record three Academy Awards for lead actor, including in 1990 for his iconic performance as Irish writer and painter Christy Brown in “My Left Foot.” (Day-Lewis beat out Tom Cruise in “Born on the Fourth of July,” Morgan Freeman in “Driving Miss Daisy” and Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society.”)
Brown, who was born with severe cerebral palsy, could not walk or talk, was wheelchair-bound and only had control of his left foot, which he used to paint and write. Day-Lewis refused to stand between takes, remaining in his wheelchair, and made production assistants feed him by hand. He is now renowned for his Method acting, grueling process and devotion to his roles.
Christian Bale as Trevor Reznik in “The Machinist.”
(Paramount Classics)
Christian Bale
Another Method actor who rejects the label, Christian Bale is oft-associated with extreme physical transformations and intense focus onset, including in “American Psycho” as serial killer Patrick Bateman and in “The Machinist” as sleepless industrial worker Trevor Reznik.
Bale lost more than 50 pounds in four months to play the machinist, paranoid and deluded after being unable to sleep for a year. Bale’s daily diet consisted of black coffee, an apple and a tin of tuna.
But in 2011, Bale told the Mirror: “At the end of the day, I’m faking it. Pure imagination. I never took any classes, I just go, ‘I better wing this one and make it up!’ Everybody talks about the process too much. The interesting thing about a movie is the movie.”
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in “Elvis.”
(Warner Bros. Picture / Warner Bros. Pictures / AP)
Austin Butler
Eight months after “Elvis” hit theaters in June 2022, Austin Butler — who starred as the King of Rock and Roll — said he would finally drop Presley’s deep Southern twang. (That came after fans noticed the Elvis accent creeping in during his Golden Globes acceptance speech, “Saturday Night Live” monologue and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” guest spot.)
“It’s funny to me because I don’t even think about it,” Butler told The Times after his Oscar nomination for the role. “I guess after three years of doing everything that I could to focus on this one goal of trying to bring life to Elvis in this film, I think that there’s certain muscular habits that must pop up.”
Once again, though, Butler wouldn’t use the term to describe himself. “I never have used the word ‘Method,’” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “I think that word gets thrown around a lot. It’s a very misunderstood thing that isn’t really what I do. … It’s more that I just like to immerse myself.”
