Anya Taylor-Joy says women don’t method act, and there’s a reason for it

British-American actress Anya Taylor-Joy spoke about method acting in a recent interview with Complex. 

The ‘Queen’s Gambit’ actress shared her opinion on the immersive acting technique, stating that women don’t often tend to practice it as they have “things to take care of”.

The intense process involves acting as the person the actor is interpreting even while off the set.

It has been associated with actors such as Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert DeNiro, Adrien Brody and Jim Carrey. 

The technique has often been connected to disruptive behaviours on and off set, with some actors taking it too far. 

One glaring example was Jared Leto, who allegedly sent distasteful gifts to his castmates and created an uncomfortable environment on set while playing Batman’s Joker in ‘Suicide Squad’. 

Taylor-Joy does not see method acting ever becoming a possibility for her. 

“We can’t completely lose our minds,” the actress explained.

“I see acting as kind of like a controlled psychosis in a way,” she said. 

“You are pretending to be somebody else and having their thoughts 16 hours a day and moving like them, in their house, in their clothes,” she added.

The star also explained how grateful she is to have people in her life who can call her back to reality if she’s taking it too far while preparing for a role. 

“Sometimes, if it gets a little bit out of hand, they’ll call me by the character name and be like, ‘Yo, we need to check in again,'” Taylor-Joy explained.

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Losing oneself into a role is not an option for Taylor-Joy because it would also involve acting like a different person while also working with a crew.

 “I can’t imagine keeping it up all the time because, again, you’re going to work with hundreds of people,” she said. 

“It is your responsibility to be good to them and to help them do their best job. If you’re too invested in being an a–hole, then that’s not going to be very fun,” she concluded. 

Women “can’t afford” to be method actors

Taylor-Joy is not the first actress to share her opinion on method acting.

Back in 2024, Natalie Portman also observed how it’s usually men who take this approach to preparing for a role. 

Talking to the Wall Street Journal, Portman stated: “I’ve gotten very into roles, but I think it’s honestly a luxury that women can’t afford.” 

“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,” she noted at the time. 

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Day-Lewis and Garfield defend method acting

Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis, on the other hand, does not think people actually understand what it means to method act. 

“It’s almost as if it’s some specious science that we’re involved in, or a cult,” he said in 2025. 

“Method acting doesn’t mean living a separate life, but creating a self-contained experience of your own,” the actor said.

Andrew Garfield also defended the technique, stating that it doesn’t necessarily have to be seen as negative:  “It’s not about being an a-hole to everyone on set,” he said back in 2022. 

“It’s actually just about living truthfully under imagined circumstances, and being really nice to the crew simultaneously, and being a normal human being, and being able to drop it when you need to, and staying in it when you want to stay in it.”

Back then, Garfield fasted and remained celibate for six months in order to better connect to his character, a Jesuit priest, in Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’.

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