Mads Mikkelsenis no fan of method acting. The accomplished actor, who can be seen in the new filmFantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, has earned widespread acclaim for his various roles. But for as convincing as Mikkelsen has been with his on-screen performances, he says it never extended to beyond when the cameras were rolling.
In a new interview withBritish GQ, Mikkelsen spoke at length about his roles and how he approaches them. Making it clear that he didn’t go method to play the titular role inHannibal, here’s what Mikkelsen had to say when asked how he felt about method acting in Hollywood.
“It’s bullsht. What if it’s a sht film? What do you think you achieved? Am I impressed that you didn’t drop character? You should have dropped it from the beginning! How do you prepare for a serial killer? You gonna spend two years checking it out?”
Mikkelsen was then asked to share his thoughts on possibly co-starring in a movie with Daniel Day-Lewis, someone who’s basically synonymous with method acting. From his view, Mikkelsen feels Day-Lewis is a “great actor,” but he also can’t help but feel like he’d have nonstop fun on the set just trying to get Day-Lewis to crack. It’s nothing personal against Day-Lewis and other method actors, but Mikkelsen suggests that the problem is when these stories get sensationalized in the media and end up overshadowing their actual performance in the film.
“I would have the time of my life, just breaking down the character constantly. ‘I’m having a cigarette? This is from 2020, it’s not from 1870 – can you live with it?’ It’s just pretentious. Daniel Day-Lewis is a great actor. But it’s got nothing to do with this. The media goes, ‘Oh my god, he took it so seriously, therefore he must be fantastic; let’s give him an award.’ Then that’s the talk, and everybody knows about it, and it becomes a thing.”
Related:Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: Mysteries We Hope to See Unveiled
Method Acting Certainly Makes Headlines, for Better or for Worse
Mads Mikkelsen is not mistaken when he says the media often runs headlines about actors and their method acting, whether or not they’re trying to get the publicity. It was just recently reported that Jared Leto, who stars in the new movieMorbius, once againwent method while filming that movie, going so far as to always use crutches behind the scenes to better feel his character’s struggles. Leto has been known to go method on other films, infamously giving bizarre presents to hisSuicide Squadco-stars because he was playing the Joker, a supervillain with a twisted sense of humor.
In an interview last year, Letosaid of the term “method actor”:
“I appreciate the term, I think it’s a little cloudy, the definition. It could also be really pretentious as well. I was thinking of it as my job to show up and do the best work that I can. It’s my job to show up, do whatever I can, to be overprepared. And to deliver. It’s also my job to show up and, you know, be a pleasure to work with. And to be collaborative, and to have a good experience on set.”
