Natalie Portman has a hot take on method acting and discussed why she chose not to apply the style of acting to her role in “May December.”
In the film, Portman portrays Elizabeth Berry, an actor who employs method acting — a technique where actors take on the psyche of their character by fully immersing themselves in the life and mind of the role they’re playing — to play a woman with a controversial past.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Monday, Portman explained why she has never done method acting.
“I’ve gotten very into roles, but I think it’s honestly a luxury that women can’t afford,” she said.
“I don’t think that children or partners would be very understanding of, you know, me making everyone call me ‘Jackie Kennedy’ all the time,” she added, nodding to her 2016 movie, “Jackie,” in which she stars as the former first lady.
Though Portman isn’t a fan of method acting, it’s clear that she knows how to go to great lengths to embody herself in her on-screen roles.
The Oscar winner once shed 20 pounds, ate a miserable, restrictive diet of almonds and carrots and trained for hours each day to star as a ballerina in 2010′s critically acclaimed “Black Swan” film.
Portman, who made her acting debut in Luc Besson’s 1994 action thriller, “Léon: The Professional,” isn’t the first female actor to loathe method acting.
In June 2021, Meryl Streep admitted she “was so depressed” while implementing the technique to play the icy fashion magazine editor, Miranda Priestly, in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
“It was horrible! I was [miserable] in my trailer. I could hear them all rocking and laughing,” Streep told Entertainment Weekly. “I was so depressed! I said, ‘Well, it’s the price you pay for being boss!’ That’s the last time I ever attempted a Method thing!”
Charlize Theron echoed a similar sentiment about the challenges of method acting while appearing on Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett’s “Smartless” podcast in November 2022.
Theron recalled her life being “miserable” while using the technique for her role in 1997’s “The Devil’s Advocate.”
“I realized on that film that that was definitely not a process that was gonna work for me,” she said. “There was something so exhausting about it. My life was miserable. I wasn’t happy.”