Al Pacino discusses one of his earlier films on this little stage in Los Angeles, roughly 20 feet from a seat with his name on it at the Actors Studio West. You may have already seen it. Pacino commented, “I recently saw this movie, which is why I can remember it. “I didn’t look at it or notice it for 25 years.”
Pacino’s performance as Michael Corleone in the sequence from “The Godfather” says a lot about Michael’s state of mind just hours after his father is shot. He conveys his calm demeanour and ability to be brutal without ever speaking a word. The giveaways are the secret, according to Pacino. “When only lights the cigarette and [the other guy] is alert enough to realise that he’s not shaking.”
Pacino had to go through a process to get there. His craft and passion, acting, is an ongoing source of learning. “Where is Carnegie Hall located? Practice! You cannot simply enter, “said he. “Therefore the actor is similarly affected. There is only one requirement, and that is to have the appetite and, more importantly, the willingness to accomplish it.”
On the West Side of Manhattan, in a modest brick structure that was once a church, Pacino and generations of performers, directors, and writers started The Actors Studio.
Here was our place to go to feel like you are a part of something, that what you had chosen to do with your life, which is so random and is so full of rejection, had a location you could be welcomed and then go to, according to Pacino.
Take a look at the graduates of the Actors Studio: Paul Newman, James Dean, Sidney Poitier, Jane Fonda, James Baldwin, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Nicholson, and Sally Field. That only touches the surface.
Together with Ellen Burstyn, another Oscar-winning actor, Pacino serves as co-president of the Actors Studio. She was questioned by Mankiewicz, “What does this place represent to you?”
She chuckled, “Oh, God. That not only changed me as a person, but also as an actress.
The studio, which was established in 1947 by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, and Bobby Lewis and was for many years run by creative director Lee Strasberg, provides actors the flexibility to take risks, try new things, and let their imaginations run free. The Method is the technique at the centre of it all, and it is both renowned and enigmatic.
According to Burstyn, “transformed the industry. It is a technique for teaching the senses to react to fictitious stimuli.”
Pacino remarked, “I’m sure Harvey Keitel and Paul Newman would tell you something [different] from what Ellen Burstyn says about how they view the Method. Everyone is free to approach things in their own way here.”
The Method changed American acting. When Marlon Brando made his spectacular entrance on Broadway in “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1947, the New York theatregoers witnessed it for the first time.
If you isolate the “Stella” sequence, according to Pacino, you won’t see an actor—you’ll see a cyclone.
Mankiewicz questioned, “Has his performance altered everything?
“It did. He’s the actor who comes closest to acting genius, in my opinion.”
For many people, The Method is many different things. In addition to Nicole Kidman portraying a character for five months on the Hulu series “Nine Perfect Strangers,” Robert De Niro and Daniel Day Lewis have also maintained their personas while the cameras aren’t running.
What the Method is really about is true acting.
author Isaac Butler of “”In that post-war era, you have this younger, rebellious generation that needs a way of telling the truth,” the author of The Method: How the 20th Century Learned to Act, remarked. And that younger generation, which was feeling oppressed by the kind of uniformity prevalent in the late 1930s and early 1940s, found the Way to be very, very appealing.”
He cited a scene from the movie “In the Heart of the Night,” in which Sidney Poitier informs Lee Grant’s character that her husband had passed away. Butler remarked, “That’s actually my favourite sequence in the picture. “There are some who are more well-known. Yet in my opinion, that was the best-acted scene in the entire film. These two characters are engaged in a dispute that is being resolved on both the inside and the outside. The figure played by Poitier must console the woman in order to elicit information from her. He must, however, also defend himself in that situation because he is a Black guy in the South.
“Lee Grant’s persona is currently overcome by emotion. He won’t see it because she doesn’t want to. She needs comfort since she is a mourning human being at the same time. And you witness how the whole conflict develops.”
A number of auditions are required for candidates to join the Actors Studio. Once admitted, they are lifelong members. They don’t pay dues. But those interviews are difficult.
Just ask Justin Marcel McManus, who said that it took him two years. “And as soon as I stepped onto the stage, I grasped it. Well, this is what I need—a secure environment where I can be with individuals who are familiar with the work, like all the luminaries present. When you approach the stage, you can sense it. Something inside of you is sparked by that.”
Carol Kane, an actress nominated for an Oscar, has wowed audiences in both comedic and dramatic roles. She has about 50 years of membership. She stated, “The thing that keeps coming into my mind is permission to make mistakes. There are very few environments that give you the opportunity to make mistakes without feeling condemned.
The studio refers to these events as “sessions,” when performers perform for other members, who subsequently evaluate the work.
The actor’s studio’s godfather watched Pacino’s first session. He noted that Lee Strasberg served as the moderator. “As he turned the card over, he noticed a man with the name “Al Pacino.” Nobody ever referred to me as Al Pacino because, unless you are familiar with the language, P-A-C-I-N-O is a silent ch. ‘Pakini,’ ‘Pasino,’ they say. He correctly pronounced it, and I exclaimed, “He’s got my heart.””
The Actors Studio opened its doors to “Sunday Morning” for the first time in its 75-year history to film a session that was hosted by Burstyn and featured live performances by Justin Marcel McManus and Leland Gant. The meetings have been held in secrecy and have never before been recorded by an outside camera.