Keith Allen: 'I'm no method actor'
Keith Allen isn't a fan of method acting. The star is about to play East End gangster Danny Dixon in The Runaway, Sky1 HD's adaptation of the Martina Cole novel. But Keith, 57, said: "I don't suffer from what I believe a lot of actors suffer from, in that they have to do certain things to be an actor, like endlessly study the script and endlessly think about the character. I wouldn't advise that to anybody." Singer Lily's dad joked he would never 'go method' in the vein of Daniel Day-Lewis, saying: "It works for him, he's an extraordinarily brilliant actor but I wouldn't like to sleep with him." He added: "I can see some people need to do that but whether that's what makes them a good actor, I don't think so. They could probably do it without all that." The star, who screen credits include TV shows Viva Blackpool and Bodies, and cult films Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, added: "It's like a lot of American actors, they're just appalling to work with because they're so up their own a**e about acting."
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.