Reddit reviews An Actor Prepares

Method acting was supposedly invented by Constantin Stanislavski. He has a trilogy of books on the subject, starting with An Actor Prepares (which really hammers in the core concept enough).

https://www.amazon.com/Actor-Prepares-Constantin-Stanislavski/dp/0878309837

People have misconstrued his message for ages since. To get in the mindset of a Black man (a Moor) for Othello, he put chocolate frosting on his face. Yes, his pivotal example was blackface. But he described acting savage and trying to get insider the head of the character. He IMAGINED he was that person to get in their head.

He didn't say he truly had to live his life and do everything that character said.

This notion that you can only portray being a taxi driver unless you drive a taxi is absurd. That is saying you can't play a killer unless you go kill people.

A method actor only needs to spend time analyzing the character and their motivations. If you keep asking "why" the character says and does what is in the script, you are better prepared to perform the role.

As obvious as that sounds, before Stanislavski, directors and actors apparently didn't discuss motive. At least there is no recorded history of them doing so.

In that case, I suggest you read up on Constantin Stanislavski and his best known work An Actor Prepares. Stanislavski invented a technique called Method Acting, and is considered the most famous acting coach of all time to my knowledge.

It may sound bizarre, but a good actor doesn't act. He just goes about his life infusing his own mechanics and behavioral traits to his character. While I can't attest to theatre, for film/tv as soon as an actor steps into the casting office they go into "actor mode" where nothing they do is natural but instead cued up and ready to regurgitate whatever they need to do whether lines or movements. Best book I ever read that discusses this is AN ACTOR PREPARES.

It's wonderful to hear that you have an interest in his works! If you want a great place to start, I'd recommend going right to the source: An Actor Prepares. That is his famous work, it's the book that did it all. It's actually a surprisingly easy and very fun read, if at times somewhat confusing. You can see the basis for his ideas very clearly. I will say this though: it reads more like a work of philosophy than anything else. Notes on the translation: there are two major versions out: the one I linked you to, which is similar to how it was originally published, and a new one, more reflective of how Stanislavski wished the book published. The Benedetti translation is harder to read (as it includes sections that were taken out specifically for readability), but more academically interesting.

Other good reads are his autobiography, which is very open and contextualizes his later work beautifully, and Benedetti's work, focusing on the writing of An Actor's Work.

For a complete picture of 20th century acting theory, I would also look into Strasberg and Meisner.