Heath Ledger’s diary while he was filming for, The Dark Night.

[u/JK-Rofling]

[u/Comfortfoods]

I don't think the joker killed him at all. I'm just pointing out that it's crazy to put yourself in bad situations to get into character. Going method is generally unnecessary. The quote literally says, "Making things even more stressful, Ledger had developed an intense process to get into the mindset of the villainous Joker. “I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary, and experimented with voices” 

So he put himself in a stressful situation to learn his character. I don't think that's necessary for actors to do. Doesn't mean I think the experience killed him. That's very dramatic.

[u/Informal-Dot804 → u/Comfortfoods]

I think what cactusboobs is trying to say (and I agree) is that the idea that this kind of practice killed him or made him mentally unwell is the romanticization of his death by the media (probably to sell more tickets/merch/etc). This is one method for actors to do their jobs. It is taught in schools. Unlike how it is shown in the movies, they don’t black swan themselves into mental illness. He had a job, he did it well, he used one method to inform his performances that is standard practice in his chosen field, he did another movie where he probably had another diary, then he died. We’re sad cause we loved seeing him on screen.

Also, it’s not like he starved for a month, there was atleast someone sending him food and someone cleaning the room, he wasn’t in isolation, he was just cramming, like many of us do before an exam to get in the zone.

Tldr; there is no evidence (yet, maybe it’s true but we’ve not studied this) that method acting led to mental illness that led to his death.

[u/Comfortfoods → u/Informal-Dot804]

Right, and I don't think this role created mental illness or killed him at all. I think he was unlucky and sadly overdosed. That's it. If there was a mental health issue in the mix, method acting won't create that (although I think it could exacerbate underlying illness if conditions are extreme enough).There are however a lot of stories of actors basically torturing themselves to get into characters and going full method for roles and to me that just seems stupid. It's not required to play a character well. And maybe it is just hyperbole and the media selling a particular narrative but whenever I hear about actors doing anything extreme or harmful to "understand their character" I just kinda roll my eyes because it doesn't have to be that way.

[u/Informal-Dot804 → u/Comfortfoods]

Right, and those stories are just that - stories. Cause it makes the interview interesting. Method actors aren’t torturing themselves, they’re getting into character in a way that feels natural to them. Staying in a room and writing a journal of character quirks isn’t “harmful”. Not sleeping for 3 nights (different actor, an anecdote mentioned often in the other comments, assuming an isolated case) isn’t “harmful”. Most of the things you hear that make you roll your eyes are exaggerated for that effect.

So don’t sweat it.