Method actress Meryl Streep has just won a Best Actress Award from the New York Film Critics Circle. I think this is a sign of what is to come with the Oscars.

In case you haven’t heard, Meryl has been filming a film about the life of Margaret Thatcher. It is due to be released soon.

The thing about Meryl is that she is a complete chameleon, and when she develops a character she goes the whole nine yards. Apparently, when they were filming, the other actors said it was really like Margaret Thatcher was in the room.

This is what I love about Method actors. They only settle for outstanding. They go the extra mile and they use every tool in their Method toolbox. Well, I guess you need to if you are being paid £15m a movie!

I suggest you watch her performance and dissect it. Look at her emotional range and truthfulness; look at her physicality; listen to her voice. I tell you, she has the whole package going on – which you can learn a lot from.

Best wishes

Brian

Well the results of the 2011 Academy Awards are in and I guess there were no great surprises.

Colin Firth won Best Actor. Although Colin puts in a great performance I would argue that method actor Javier Bardem’s performance in ‘Biutiful’ was far superior. His performance was in another league. He brought great emotional depth and range to the role.  The film is very gritty and in Spanish which is probably not as appealing to UK and US audiences as the ‘The King’s Speech’ which is all about the British royalty.

Personally, although ‘The King’s Speech’ is an enjoyable film, I’m a little tired of seeing British films about the monarchy and the old British stiff upper lip. Give me a gritty, real and  emotional moving film any day.

Talking of which the film ‘The Fighter’ did well at the Awards. Method actors Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won Best Supporting Actors and Actress Awards and well deserved too.

Also Natalie Portman won Best Actress for her role in ‘Black Swan’. The 10 months of ballet dance training before shooting the film paid off!

This post raises a very important point within acting that you need to know, so I would recommend reading it the whole way through.

At the weekend I went to see the critically acclaimed film ‘Black Swan’.

It was a very interesting film and I recommend you see it. Not only is it a great film but it also highlights a particular acting challenge all actors face.

If you haven’t seen it yet, let me fill you in. It centers on a ballet dancer (Natalie Portman) who has worked very hard at her craft but has failed to land a leading role. Why? Well, she is technically brilliant but lacks artistic flare.

An opportunity arises when the Artistic Director (Vincent Cassel) decides to stage ‘Swan Lake’ and needs someone who can play the white and black swan. As you would imagine the white swan character is angelic and fragile while the black swan is, well, a bit naughty. A bit of a simplification but you get the picture.

Portman’s character is great at the white swan. Her character type fits the white swan. But when she dances the part of the black swan she just can’t crack it. It’s too controlled and analytical. Her character hasn’t fully lived yet and is a goody two shoes who struggles to relate to the darkness of the black swan. (It’s worth noting how her real life affected her dancing life, which is very often the case with actors too.)

There is however another dancer in the troop of ballet dancers (Mila Kunis) who is very good at doing the black swan. She comes across as a mischievous and sensual person who can identify with the black swan.

But here is the Directors problem he needs someone who can play both. In ‘Swan Lake’ one dancer plays both roles.

He opts for Portman and tries to educate her on how to play the black swan.

I won’t ruin the film for you so I will stop there, but this raises a crucial acting issue.

Sometimes actors are not aware of how they come across and how much they need to change in order to play a role.

The casting of the film itself highlights this. Portman plays the ‘nice’ girl beautifully and manages to pull off the bad girl routine as well, but not quite as well as Kunis who was cast as the bad girl of the film. You can see that she is very comfortable with that kind of role.

In order to play a range of roles you need to transform because if you don’t someone will walk into the casting room who is exactly like the character.

Here is my pivotal question.

Can you do that now?

Do you have the skill and technique to pull off a performance at the highest level and completely transform?

If you can’t then there is someone out there who can, I can assure you.

If you want to develop this sort of skill and achieve this sort of level of performance then you need to start training.

Natalie Portman employed some hallmark method acting techniques. She also trained in ballet dancing for 10 months before the acting process began showing true commitment to the role.

I predict an Oscar for her performance. Bravo!

Oscar Nominee, Paul Giamatti with Brian Timoney

Last week, I was invited to a special screening of a new film called Barney’s Version starring Paul Giamatti (famous for his role in the film Sideways).

Firstly, this is an amazing film, and Paul turns in an Oscar-winning performance. I predict he will most definitely be nominated for this performance.  The film isn’t released in the UK until the end of January 2011.

Paul plays opposite a number of big actors in the film, including Dustin Hoffman.

I got to hang out with Paul after the screening.  I was very curious to learn how he got on with Dustin Hoffman.  Dustin is renowned for his method performances, and I wondered how he approached this role opposite Paul.

The response was very interesting indeed.

Paul said that working with Dustin Hoffman is like working with Picasso.  He said, ‘’Dustin would tear up the scene and put it all back together again, and when they did the final takes it was a completely different type of scene.’’ He goes on, ‘’The man is 73 but has an immense energy.  He would stay in character during filming which had its funny moments.  His character is a lecherous ex-cop who tells dirty jokes all the time.  In between filming takes he would tell dirty jokes to the cast and crew.’’

Hoffman was using tried and tested method acting techniques.

It’s interesting that a man in his seventies, who is regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, still works so hard and diligently at his craft.  He no longer NEEDS to – it’s because he WANTS to.

A true acting artist – as is Paul.

I urge you to go and see this amazing film on its first weekend of release in January in the UK.  Films like this need to be encouraged and the first weekend is so important for smaller films such as this one.

Send a message to Hollywood that we want to see more great, in-depth, thoughtful work like this by seeing it the weekend of its release.

Best wishes,

Brian

Leading Method Actors Robert De Niro and Eli Wallach are to receive industry recognition this year for their lifetime contribution to cinema, and boy have they contributed!

De Niro is to receive a lifetime achievement award at the golden globes. Kevin Spacey announced this by saying that  De Niro, 67, was ‘universally acknowledged as one of the greatest actors of all time’.

Eli Wallach will receive an Honorary Award at the Oscars this year. He has appeared in everything from ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ to ‘ The Godfather 3′. He goes way back to the first wave of method actors and was a good friend of to the writer Tennessee Williams.

These guys typify the amazing power of the technique they hold dear – method acting.

At long last Mr Jeff Bridges has finally won an Oscar! Congratulations to him. Well deserved.

He also takes the percentage up again. What percentage I hear you ask…?

The percentage of Best Actor Oscar winners since 2000 who are method actors. It’s now at over 80%. Coincidence? I think not.

I like to call this percentage the ‘hidden message’. Most people never know about it.

Mr Bridges appeared on The Jonathan Ross Show recently, and he revealed one of his method acting secrets. When Jonathan Ross asked him if he got drunk to play his role so convincingly in The Big Lebowski (his character is high a lot of the time), Jeff replied “Absolutely not”. In fact, he completely abstained from any such substances, including alcohol, as he had to remain completely focused and alert. Instead, he told Jonathan, he relied on Sense Memory.

In The Method we have a tool called Sense Memory, which is about recalling life events through your senses in order to recreate the correct emotional content.

This is easier said than done, and method actors go through a progression of work and training to do this at its optimum.

But one thing is for certain. It works. That’s why people like Jeff Bridges, Sean Penn, Daniel Day- Lewis, Forest Whitaker, and a very long list of outstanding actors use it.

But here is the funny thing about The Method. Most people never learn it. Either they never get to hear about it or they just don’t think they need to learn it.

Well, you don’t have to learn it, but the top actors do because they want to be the best.

Please, for your own acting sake, start learning The Method. Jeff has just given you another sign, please don’t ignore it.

Yes, it’s true that you can learn The Method with me, but even if you don’t choose me, please go to someone else. I want to see more acting of Jeff Bridges’ standard. In fact, I would like to see all acting at that standard, and that means more people have to learn the technique which produces this type of outstanding acting.

Best wishes

Brian Timoney