Live by The Method, Die by The Method

Eric Stoltz Back to the Future Interview

“— things were difficult on The Set; 

Eric was… It was, uh — It was not easy. 

….He was Doing a very 

Method-Thing, y’know? 

“Everybody Call Me, ‘Marty’, okay? 

Except Lea, who's playin’ My Mom, 

who l'm tryin’ to make-out with, y’know?

…..Off-camera —“

Okay, “Method-Method-Method-Method,

Method — Hot Chick — No-Method….”

— yeah, uh so… Y’know,

he was Doing all that stuff —

….it was a VERY different thing;

a VERY different thing…..

Q. : Like, too serious..?

“Whu — What do you 

want me to say…? I think — 

Uh…. I Think it was BAD, 

and, uh, Y’know — and 

He wasn't Friendly to Me, 

so I don’t Care! 

Stardate: 44474.5

Original Airdate: 4 Feb, 1991

[Ebenezer Scrooge's bedchamber]

(It's Dickens time on The HoloDeck, and Data is playing Scrooge)

MARLEY: You don't believe in me.

DATA: I don't.

MARLEY: What evidence would you have 

of my reality beyond that of your senses?

DATA: I don't know.

MARLEY: Why do you doubt your senses?

DATA: Because -- 

a little thing affects them. 

A slight disorder 

of the stomach 

makes them cheats. 

You may be an undigested bit of beef, 

a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, 

a fragment of an underdone potato --

Why, there's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are. 

Humbug, I tell you. Humbug!

(the ghost roars, and Scrooge cowers)

PICARD: Freeze programme. Very well done, Data. Your performance skills really are improving.

DATA: Your courtesy is appreciated, sir. But I am aware that I do not effectively convey the fear called for in this scene.

PICARD: Well, you've never known fear, Data. 

But as an acute observer of behaviour, 

you should be able to approximate it.

DATA: Sir, that is not an appropriate basis for an effective performance. Not by the standards set by my mentors.

PICARD: Your mentors?

DATA: Yes, sir. I have studied the philosophies of virtually every known acting master. I find myself attracted to Stanislavsky, Adler, Garnav. Proponents of an acting technique known as 'The Method' --

TNG Data as Scrooge (Devil's Due)

[Corridor]

(Patrick Stewart is a Method actor, by the way)

PICARD: Method acting? I'm vaguely familiar with it, but why would you choose such an old-fashioned approach?

DATA: Perhaps because the technique requires an actor to seek his own emotional awareness to understand the character he plays.

PICARD: But surely that's an impossible task for you, Data.

DATA: Sir, I have modified The Method for my own uses. Since I have no emotional awareness to create a performance, I am attempting to use performance to create emotional awareness. I believe if I can learn to duplicate the fear of Ebenezer Scrooge, I will be one step closer to truly understanding Humanity.

RIKER [OC]: Captain Picard, please report to the Bridge.

PICARD: On my way, Number One. Data, the moment you decided to stop imitating other actors and create your own interpretation, you were already one step closer to understanding Humanity.

[Bridge]

RIKER: We've received an emergency transmission from the science station on Ventax-Two, sir.

PICARD: What's the nature of the emergency?

RIKER: Uncertain. The signal was interrupted.

WORF: Contact reestablished with Ventax Two, sir.

RIKER: On screen.

(a very static-laden image)

CLARK [on viewscreen]: I am Doctor Howard Clark, director of the science station here on Ventax Two. Thank you for responding.

PICARD: Worf, can you improve our reception?

WORF: The trouble is at the transmission source, sir.

PICARD: Doctor Clark, we are barely able maintain communication with you. Can you boost the level of your power source?

CLARK [on viewscreen]: I'm afraid not, Captain. It's under attack.

PICARD: Under attack?

CLARK [on viewscreen]: There's a mob outside the door, trying to break into the station. The planet is in chaos. Lootings, fires, mass hysteria. These people are all convinced their world is coming to an end. Tomorrow. Please, we must have your immediate --

Captain's Log, stardate 44474.5. 

We have reached Ventax Two and are attempting to contact the Federation science station, which at last report was under siege by an angry mob.

Luke Works Intuitively, Throughout Most of The Movies — Until He Gets to The Very End

 

BILL MOYERS: 

Essentially, isn’t Star Wars about transformation?

GEORGE LUCAS: 

Well, it is about transformation. 

And — and ultimately it’ll be about transformation of how young Anakin Skywalker became evil and then was redeemed by His Son.

 

But it’s also about transformation of how his son came to — 

To Find The Call. 

Luke works intuitively through most of the movie until he gets to the very end.

Everything up to that point is very intuitive. 

He goes back and forth with his emotions about 

Fighting His Father 

or 

Not Fighting His Father.

Finally he comes to that decision to say, 

‘No, this is — this is what I have to do. 

I have to simply throw my weapon down.’ 

And it’s only that way that he’s able to redeem His Father, which ultimately is the issue. 

It’s not as apparent in the first three movies, but when you see the movies I haven’t made yet, that — 

The issue of how do we get Darth Vader back is really the central issue. 

How do we get him back to that little boy that he was in the first movie? 

That good person who loved and was generous and kind?

BILL MOYERS: 

Ultimately …

GEORGE LUCAS: 

And had a Good Heart.

BILL MOYERS: 

Had a Good Heart. 

Ultimately, doesn’t it take, particularly in religion, a — a leap of faith? 

What — Kierkegaard’s leap of faith?

GEORGE LUCAS: 

Yes. Yes. Definitely. 

And that’s — that’s — you’ll notice Luke uses that quite a bit through the films. 

Not to rely on his senses, not to rely on — on the computers, not to — but to rely on Faith. 

That is what ‘Use The Force’ is, is a leap of faith. 

That there are mysteries and powers larger than we are, and that you have to trust your feelings in order to — to access these things.

BILL MOYERS: 

Your friend Joseph Campbell called it 

‘the perfect eye to see with.’

GEORGE LUCAS: 

Mm-hmm.

BILL MOYERS: 

How do you develop that eye?

GEORGE LUCAS: 

Well, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know whether I have that eye. But…

BILL MOYERS: 

Oh, you do. People — your colleagues tell me you’re always making quick decisions, good or bad. 

You’re making intuitive decisions very quickly.

TRY NOT.

DO.

OR DO NOT.

THERE IS NO "Try".

GEORGE LUCAS: 

I’m making intuitive decisions because I — I’m — I — I can see the picture in my head even though it’s foggy …

… and I know instantly whether this fits in there or doesn’t.

BILL MOYERS: 

Do you have to work to keep nurturing your imagination, to keep feeding that interior pool from which these ideas and images …

GEORGE LUCAS: 

I’ve — I’ve never had a problem with that. I mean, my imagination runs wild. It’s — it’s — you know, people say, ‘Well, you’re gonna run out of stories, you gonna … ‘ I — I don’t think I’ll ever run — I have more stories than I can possibly do in my lifetime. And more — and I’m interested in more things to do than I can possibly do in my lifetime. And I’m now beginning to confront the fact that the — the amount of time I’ve got is less and less, that I — more and more things are going to have to go by the wayside, and I’m going to have to focus more on the things that really are meaningful to me, you know, ’cause even if I have 30 or 40 years left, it’s not enough.