Maybe Olivier was just taking the piss eh? Nothing deep.

Method acting is mimicry, not acting.

I was in a film (The Hanoi Hilton) working a scene with David Soul and Paul Le Matt and the scene took place after we (prisoners) were running-so we were supposed to be out of breath. The guy I was teamed up with and I decided to do fast push ups and jumping jacks-to get out of breath...Soul and La Matt walked over, asked what we were doing-we told them and (I forget which one) said, (those exact same words) "Why don't you try 'acting."

When you make a film about Abraham Lincoln, play the title role, and the thing that people most seem to talk about is what you did while the cameras weren't rolling, what does that say?

If one is going to speak of Brando and of Olivier, then it should be known that Olivier was a great admirer of Brando and vice versa. Find the Dick Cavett interview of Laurence Olivier where he speaks glowingly of Marlon Brando. Read accounts of Brando's preparation for the role of Marc Antony and how he consulted Olivier and listened to his Shakespeare recordings.

Oliver didnt need to be a nazi sympathizer to play an aged nazi criminal to act as such.

Method acting is nothing but over blown ego and self indulgence art, selfish to the movies team of artists. Pompous. Marlon is the God of selfishness.

Hoffman did a run of stunning films back then, while Olivier was at his light-touch best in 'The Entertainer', (1960). In contrast Day-Lewis doing his big forehead vein acting has unbalanced many a half decent film.

Day-lewisis a classic case of having to many yes people around him...

It's surprising how not convincing DAY-LEWIS is. I stand with Oliver.

Charles Laurghton was limited to overweight character roles....so, I disagree with DD Lewis

The DD Lewis is the most overrated actor ever. He immerses himself in a role, then he overacts it

Dustin Hoffman isn't a "New York ethnic actor" he was born and raised in LA!

i wish more people understood that Day-Lewis' enigmatic 'retirement' was an act of grace from possibly the last truly graceful actor (by this I mean an actor with global fame): art is an action not an activity and when one senses that one no longer has - or for the time being is eluded by - an inherent sense of action, then one must stop. We delude ourselves that forms of artistry are infinite - in scope and in length. Whether or not Day Lewis will return is irrelevant: he has already completed the final journey.

I'm sure Oliver was half joking.

This nut never broke character so u know which side he’d be on

Every time I think of that movie, I remember I'm running short on Sensodyne.

Method acting seems to mess actors' heads up.

Olivier WAS a bit stagey/theatrical in films. He was a stage actor first of all.

Acting is work?

William Goldman who wrote the film remembered Olivier suffering from cancer and Hoffman demanding take after take in a terribly cold and damp location. So much for his method.

Hoffman and director Schlesinger have both said this is an exaggeration story by the newspapers 😊 maybe Hoffman was covering 😂 himself. According to Schlesinger (interview on YT), he had to reshoot some close-ups of Dustin in the dental scene I believe, because he had his eyes closed or something similar. As we know, Olivier was struggling at the time with his disease, that's when he allegedly said the famous sentence

Both left out the most important part of the story. Olivier said what he said because Hoffman couldn't remember any of his lines. He was too tired and foggy headed. Method acting is stupid and unprofessional. Olivier is right.

Get over yourself already

Olivier also said the Jean Alexander was the best actress in the UK. If you kmow, you know.

When was this?

love those "new york ethnic actors"

Laurence Olivier was an overrated h.a.m. DDL is correct, particularly concernin Charles Laughton. Check his background & upbringing. Grandfather produced classics of British cinema & mother an actress. His father? The Queen's Poet Laureate. I believe he knows wha he's talking about.

That story is complete b.s. misquoted out of context by the press. (What a shock)

He's GOT TO be kidding me with that lousy answer.

For any Actors Dustin Hoffman himself on the JAMES LIPTON interview, said that this story is false. He was "Up for 3 days" preparing for the role wink wink. What he meant was he was partying at Studio 54 and the Times article took liberties to pretend like he meant "Method Acting". Method acting is a myth. Do the work and enjoy the art

Method acting is stupid. The whole point of acting is to pretend. You don't have to become a pilot in order to play on screen. So all these actors like Dustin Hoffman and Daniel Day Lewis are full of it. Not denying that it works for them. But I am pretty sure they would have the same performance without that whole process they go through.

Hoffman loved Olivier and has always told this story in a jokey way.

I'm so glad that Daniel gave such high praise to Charles Laughton. From The Hunchback of Notre Dame, to Witness for the Prosecution, to Spartacus, there was none better.

Daniel Day Lewis is arguably the greatest actor in the history of films.

He’s not wrong about Charles Laughton

Sorry, I can't stand this guy or any actors who do what he does. And Clift never did what this guy does, nor did Brando. He is a completely selfish actor, is the bottom line. And the bottom line for me is I can't stand watching him.

Brilliant analysis of method acting by naming Charles Laughton as an early forerunner. The difference between Olivier and Hoffman in terms of acting styles is craft vs reality. Method tries to make the process of acting as real as possible not just a well-crafted guise.

And who was Olivier to tell another actor how they should do the work? Whatever gets each individual actor where they need to go to play their role should be respected as long as they consider the other actors as well.

I disagree with Daniel Day Lewis about his take on what Lawrence Olivier said. I get more as much out of Bogart and Cagney as I do the method actors like Deniro. Making things as real as possible to me is a stylistic choice not a superior one.

Let's not forget that it's the *interviewer* who's telling the story here. A wind up if ever there was one.

Anyway that "anecdote" is just a myth

A comment taken out of context and then pontificated on. Actors. They're all such pompous narcissists, this guy included. We're the fools for giving them far too much sway.

the interviewer thought was going to be in Oliver's camp - i think was surprised when Lewis was kind of critical of Sir Larry

Look at this interviewer "re-enacting" this famous, oft-told anecdote as if he was actually there, filled with embellishments. It was an offhand comment made in jest that Hoffman obviously thought was funny (Hoffman definitely has a sense of humor). It's hilarious how people pick up on these anecdotes celebrities tell in interviews......and then overblow them into these mythic moments.

Daniel Day Lewis remains the greatest actor of his generation. I would LOVE to hear he and Olivier chatting about acting. I suspect they would disagree wildly, and have enormous respect for each other (and would laugh at non-actors who “take sides” on the issue).

Daniel Day is the GOAT in my opinion, completely subjective debate, but I will NEVER understand the respect Brando gets, he would chomp scenes, and never brought a naturism to his work that other great method actors do. That emperor is naked!

Olivier of course had his own 'method'. Archie Rice and Szell are jaw-dropping performances.

Daniel Day Lewis just spoke for five minutes without making a point.

To show how pretentious pretending for a living can be.