Mads Mikkelsen reveals the reasons why he doesn't care for the method acting approach of some actors. After becoming well-known to American audiences for starring as the villain in 2006's Casino Royale, Mikkelsen would go on to play another villainous character in the acclaimed NBC show, Hannibal. Mikkelsen made his MCU debut in 2016's Doctor Strange, once more playing the villain, and is also set to appear in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and the currently untitled Indiana Jones 5.
Method acting is a practice used by some actors to more fully immerse themselves in a character. Daniel Day-Lewis is well-known for his method approach to acting, a strategy that would seem to the paying off for him considering he has won three Oscars for Best Actor. Jared Leto is another actor who uses the method approach for his roles, most recently on Morbius. Director Daniel Espinosa recently confirmed that Leto would use crutches on Morbius to limp to the bathroom between takes, a practice that took so long the actor was eventually encouraged to use a wheelchair to speed things up.
In a new interview with GQ, Mikkelsen shares his thoughts on method acting, ultimately calling the practice "bulls--t". Mikkelsen explains that preparation to that degree, especially when the movie ends up being bad is just not impressive or something to be lauded. Check out Mikkelsen's full comment below:
“What if it’s a sh-t 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?”
Although Day-Lewis has experienced success with his method acting approach, Leto is an example of an actor for which the method approach frequently does not pay off. To prepare for his role as the Joker in Suicide Squad, Leto reportedly played some strange pranks on his co-stars and that movie ended up being a massive disappointment to audiences. Morbius, as well, has also not been particularly warmly received. Similarly, Benedict Cumberbatch is said to have used a method approach to get into character for The Power of the Dog, not showing for long stretches of time and even getting on the nerves of co-star Jesse Plemons at one point.
Mikkelsen's stance on method acting is certainly understandable considering how often stars seem to be in the headlines for doing strange things in an attempt to get into character. Actors obviously will have a variety of methods to get into character for every movie they do, but sometimes those methods, when taken to extremes, can annoy co-stars or even slow down production on the movie. When method acting actively detracts from the experiences of others on set, such as with Leto's Morbius approach, it becomes questionable whether those methods should be allowed at all. Mikkelsen, after all, brings up a good point with his comment about preparing for a role as a serial killer – at a certain point, method acting just becomes a little bit ridiculous.
Source: GQ
