Marlon Brando - Method Man Core Post 4

It’s hard to find many method actors today that are as famous as Marlon Brando was in his prime. Maybe Leonardo DiCaprio is a close example but the bulk of method actors usually play the supporting roles, or don’t have a celebrity life that other actors do. They are actors, and nothing more. Method actors today that come to mind are Matthew Mcconaughey, Mark Ruffalo, Edward Norton and Daniel Day Lewis.  In his article “Articulating Stardom”, Barry King understands the difference between stardom and acting in the mainstream cinema, and writes “the crux of my argument is that stardom is a strategy of performance that is an adaptive response to the limit and pressure is exerted upon acting in the mainstream cinema” (Page 167). Actors now have to adapt to the elements of celebrity and being known publicly. Many people cannot separate the character from the star’s persona, and that is troubling to many.

However, for Marlon Brando, method acting was a little easier. Even though he was in the limelight for his celebrity and multiple marriages, the media wasn’t as distracting as it is today. He completely encapsulated his characters and took his craft seriously. According to King, “the self-referentiality of Method acting—the so-called personal express of realism of Brando, for example—rather than representing the triumph of the actor as impersonator can be seen as a successful adaptation of impersonation to the pressures of personification, deploying impersonation to refer back to the person of the actor, the consistent entity underlined each of his or her roles” (Page 179). This idea of becoming a person and naturalistic acting is what Marlon Brando was famous for. He became Stanley Kowalski in A Street Car Named Desire, he became Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront and he became Vito Corleone in The Godfather. He represented the epitome of masculinity and could play brawny, rough, suave and charming. His raw presence on screen was what was so magnetizing about him and his ability to transform into a character right before your eyes is what made him a true method actor. There have been many great actors since him but not one that can be as method as he was.