There’s a madness to “method.”
In the early 1900s, Russia changed the way Batman villains would be played forever. Ok, ok, joking aside, the invention of method acting created a gigantic schism in the acting world when it came to Hollywood. This all came from a Russian theater legend named Konstantin Stanislavski.
This wasn’t just artistic expression, this was realism to a degree unmatched by previous performances. This wasn’t giving ideas and dialogue large life and loud voice, but emotions rooted in memory and reality.
Travis Lee Ratcliff focuses on the ‘50s stars that led the charge in popularizing this philosophy towards acting: James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Montgomery Clift. Understanding these actors’ performances can make a textbook ideation into a reality – one that is still affecting acting choices today.
