Kristen Stewart has offered her thoughts on the ongoing debate surrounding Method acting. In a recent interview with the New York Times, the director of "The Chronology of Water" noted that acting, by its very nature, "is quite embarrassing and unmasculine," and that adopting a Method approach is a means for some male actors to mitigate the "inherently vulnerable" aspect of their craft.
"Performance is inherently vulnerable, and therefore quite embarrassing and unmasculine," Stewart remarked. "There's no bravado in suggesting that you're a mouthpiece for someone else's ideas. It's inherently submissive." She then posed a question that has been largely unasked in the realm of female actors: "Have you ever heard of a female actor that was method?"
The comment stemmed from a broader conversation about Marlon Brando's infamous mispronunciation of "Krpton" in 1978's "Superman." The interviewer recalled Sean Penn, who knew Brando, stating that it was his way of maintaining his integrity while appearing in a "sellout movie." Stewart argued that men in Hollywood are often "aggrandized for retaining self" while women don't receive the same treatment.
"Brando sounds like a hero, doesn't he? If a woman did that, it would be different," she said. "If you have to do 50 push-ups before your close-up or refuse to say a word a certain way—I mean, Brando, [expletive], I'm not coming for him."
Stewart continued, describing a common act that takes place before the actual acting on set: "If they can protrude out of the vulnerability and feel like a gorilla pounding their chest before they cry on camera, it's a little less embarrassing. It also makes it seem like a magic trick, as if what you're doing is so impossible that nobody else could do it."
To further reinforce her belief that actresses aren't given the same liberties as their male counterparts, Stewart recounted a conversation she had with another actor: "I asked a fellow actor, 'Have you ever met a female actor that was method and needed to scream and do a whole thing?' As soon as I said 'male actor, female actor,' the reaction was like, 'Do not mention the elephant in the room.' And he goes, 'Oh, actresses are crazy.'"
