Benedict Cumberbatch and the truth about method acting

What’s up with Kirsten Dunst and Benedict Cumberbatch? It’s rumoured that the pair refused to speak to each other on the set of their new movie, The Power of the Dog, because Cumberbatch had embraced ‘method acting’ and his character hated her character. To protect the truth of his interpretation, he deliberately snubbed his co-star throughout the shoot. Is that true? Something about it doesn’t feel right.

Any thesp who follows ‘the method’ is likely to infuriate their colleagues. HBO’s hit series ‘Succession’ has generated rumours about Jeremy Strong who plays Kendall Roy. Strong, in the words of his fellow thesps, is ‘complicated’ to work with. He identifies so closely with his character that he adopts Kendall’s mood for days on end. If Kendall is happy, Strong is happy. If Kendall is suffering, Strong sulks and mopes. And he immerses himself so deeply in the role that he reacts badly when the words ‘rehearsal or ‘scene’ are mentioned.