Natalie Portman Believes Method Acting Is a 'Luxury That Women Can’t Afford'

The actress has "gotten very into roles" but never gone Method.

January 9, 2024

Natalie Portman has "gotten very into roles," but as a woman, she has never had the "luxury" of going Method.

Portman said in an interview with Lane Florsheim for the Wall Street Journal that she considers the revered technique to be a "luxury that women can’t afford."

"I've gotten very into roles, but I think [Method acting is] honestly a luxury that women can't afford," explained the Oscar-winning star of 2016's Jackie, who's been in the business since she was a child. "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."

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Method acting is a "technique when an actor aspires to complete emotional identification with a role or character for a project." It's a process where an actor tries to immerse themselves into their character whether they are on camera or not.

This approach has been known to cause issues on set. Take Jeremy Strong, who essentially went Method when playing Kendall Roy in Succession. According to BuzzFeed News, Kieran Culkin, who played Kendall's brother Roman, once expressed frustration with Strong's process, saying, "He puts himself in a bubble. … That might be something that helps him. I can tell you that it doesn't help me."

In the "please call me by a First Lady or president's name" department, Lincoln was one of Daniel Day Lewis' many times going that route. Jared Leto is another actor who has a history of going Method—so much so that he poked fun at his process while presenting at the Golden Globes, joking that he'd been in "presenter mode for weeks" in preparation for last night's ceremony.

While it's easy to name a slew of male actors famously known for going Method, women who have done the same are few and far between, which points to the truth in Portman's claim. Carey Mulligan revealed to Variety that she went Method for her role as Felicia Montealegre in Maestro after co-star, director, and Method actor Bradley Cooper told her to "fully, fully do it."

For her Oscar-winning role in Black Swan, Portman dropped a reported 20 pounds to portray a ballerina. The actress also admitted in a red carpet interview with E! that she unintentionally used her voice from the 2016 film Jackie in her everyday life. However, that's as far as Portman feels she was allowed to go.