These days, Method acting gets a pretty bad rap. It’s mostly defined in the public’s imagination by actorly excesses like Daniel Day-Lewis demanding to be addressed as Mr. President on the set of Lincoln and Jared Leto terrorizing his Suicide Squad castmates with disgusting Joker-inspired pranks. As Butler himself notes late in this lengthy tome, the general perception of Method acting these days is perfectly described by Dustin Hoffman’s anecdote from the set of Marathon Man, where, having stayed awake multiple days in a row […]