Kristen Stewart says acting is “unmasculine” and believes this is why men method act
Kirsten Stewart has shared her thoughts on why she thinks there are no female method actors in the industry, saying that acting is “unmasculine” and men use method acting to overcompensate.
The actor was speaking in a new interview with The New York Times when she was asked about her views on the method acting process, leading to a discussion on the gendered aspects of the issue.
Reflecting on the very art of acting itself, she said: “Performance is inherently vulnerable and therefore quite embarrassing and unmasculine. It’s inherently submissive. Have you ever heard of a female actor that was method?”
Citing the examples of actors such as Marlon Brando, who famously used the technique throughout his prolific career, Stewart added: “Men are aggrandised for retaining self. Brando sounds like a hero, doesn’t he? If a woman did that, it would be different.”
Detailing the reasons why men may feel the need to method act more, she mused: “There’s a common act that happens before the acting happens on set: If they can protrude out of the vulnerability and feel like a gorilla pounding their chest before they cry on camera, it’s a little less embarrassing.”
Stewart recalled a conversation in which she asked the question over the gendered aspects of method acting, where she said: “Have you ever met a female actor that was method and needed to scream and do a whole thing?”
She claimed the male actor she was talking to simply responded: “‘Oh, actresses are crazy,’” leading her to feel like, “now we’re doing the typical thing where the girl’s crazy, and you didn’t even listen to anything I said?”
In the most recent years, Stewart has surged her career following the Twilight franchise to focus on often deeply complex but feminised roles, such as in 2023’s Love Lies Bleeding, where she played a lesbian weightlifter.
She is next set to star in a film called The Wrong Girls, which she has written with director Dylan Meyer, although plot and release details have not yet been revealed. The movie also stars an ensemble cast including Seth Rogen, Alia Shawkat, and LaKeith Stanfield.
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