Enforced Method Acting: Difference between revisions

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[[Enforced Method Acting]] is a cinematic concept in which the actors and actresses of a work give reactions that are unplanned and unscripted. This can occur for several reasons:

** On the original movie's special edition DVD actors commentary track, the actors playing Krug and Weasel boast about how they terrorised the actresses playing Mari and Phyllis, right down to hinting during the filming of the rape scene that they'd go ahead and actually commit the act if they didn't think the actresses' performances were convincing enough. They seem to think this is awesome.

* In ''[[Fight Club]]'', the first punch in the first fight between Edward Norton and [[Brad Pitt]] was supposed to be awkward as neither character had fought before. It was agreed beforehand that Norton would punch Pitt in the shoulder, but the director changed it at the last minute. Brad was not informed.

* In the film version of ''[[The Cat in the Hat]]'', Mike Meyers is standing in the hallway amidst the house falling down, and one particular beam falls, and Mike jumps and starts looking around, because no one told him it was going to happen.

* For the film ''[[When Harry Met Sally]]'', director Rob Reiner often encouraged Billy Crystal to improvise his dialogue to evoke more realistic reactions from Meg Ryan. The most noticeable example is in the famous "too much pepper in my paprikash" scene. At one point, while trying to figure out what Harry is saying, Sally laughs and looks away. This was Ryan looking to Reiner for some idea of what to do, but Reiner [[Throw It In|decided to keep it]] because it makes her character more endearing and lovable (at the exact moment in the film when the characters' love relationships starts).

** In the movie, Kiefer Sutherland's character is a bully who terrorizes the younger boys in the town. Sutherland is a method actor himself, so he picked on the boys off-set to scare them.

* Fritz Lang utilized this often, though it's hard to say where this trope ends and outright abuse begins. The best-known example was while filming the cellar scene of ''[[M]]''; star [[Peter Lorre]] was kept working to the point of exhaustion while suffering real physical blows in order to increase his pain, fear, and desperation. The shot where he is kicked with an iron boot was filmed dozens of times in succession.

* In [[The Film of the Book]] ''[[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix|Harry Potter]]'', they were in the process of filming the dramatic scene in which Sirius falls through the veil. To help get [[Daniel Radcliffe]] to the proper emotional state, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VZJIRKw-Wg Gary Oldman asked him if he could do something a little physical with him, then shook him violently and screamed in his face.] So those tears are apparently real.

** The moral of this story, kids: If [[Gary Oldman]] asks if he can help you get into a distraught emotional state, the answer is a polite no unless you are ''really'' dedicated to your art.

 

* [[Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality]] author Eliezer Yudkowsky enforces a form of method acting on his writing, to distinguish the mental recall of Harry (fairly smart but without perfect recall of everything he has learned) and Hermione (perfect recall):

 

== Live Action Television ==

* In ''[[Paranoia]]'', combat is intended to be portrayed as fast, confused, and entertainingly deadly, rather than tactically optimal - so the GM is encouraged to give the ''players'' only a few seconds to decide what their characters are doing each round.

** The rulebook contains an example of play that runs something like this:

'''GM:''' Right. John, how about you? }}

* This can apply to any tabletop game, depending on how the GM wants to run it. One little trick for [[GMs]] to simulate ambushes is to suddenly roll dice without warning and tell the players that they have been attacked.

== Fictional Examples ==

* The fictional director in ''[[Bolt]]'' ran Bolt's ''life'' this way. The words "method acting" are even mentioned by the exec who came to evaluate the show.

* In ''[[Superman Returns]]'', [[Magnificent Bastard|Lex Luthor]] cuts the brakes on his assistant's car so that her screams for help will be authentic. When she confronts him later, he explains that if she hadn't really been terrified, Superman would be able to tell.

* ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' uses this trope in the plot, which involves a director filming a movie about [[The Vietnam War]] dropping his five actors into the Golden Triangle of Asia while riddling the jungle with hidden cameras as advised by [[Shell Shocked Senior]] Four Leaf Tayback.