#rip to a culture that can't see the value of reactive/social-based acting techniques but I'm different 💖

[akajustmerry]

i do think it's a little funny that working actor kieran culkin has clearly been told by his team that if he wants an Emmy campaign he can't just talk about learning his lines, improving, watching cartoons with sarah snook between takes, and showing up to work. he's clearly been told he has to play to the method acting adjacent narrative (because that's the technique these award campaigns get results from), even though he's not a method actor. so now in all these interviews, he's talking way more about the emotional toll/labour of his performance, instead of the practical or social elements. not saying he's being disingenuous because i am sure season 4 did require more emotional performances. but this is why I really can't stand the elevation of method acting in cultural discussions of performance because it basically forces actors to be really myopic when discussing their work for it to be taken seriously. if I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times: method acting has always been a more successful marketing technique than it has EVER been an acting technique.