Several actors have weighed in on the recent debate over method acting, with Mads Mikkelsen, Will Poulter, and Samuel L. Jackson amongst those criticizing parts of the practice.

Method acting is a technique that performers employ to emotionally empathize with the characters they're playing in an attempt to deliver a more authentic performance. The process often sees actors immerse themselves in their roles by staying in character, both on and off set, though the exercise can produce mixed results and not all actors agree with it.

Mads Mikkelsen, who stars as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, has learned plenty of new skills while preparing for the various roles he's taken on throughout his career as an actor, but he recently told GQ UK that he would never extend that commitment to method acting because he thinks the practice is "pretentious."

"It's bulls***," Mikkelsen said, sharing his aversion to method acting. "But preparation, you can take into insanity. What if it's a s*** film — what do you think you achieved? Am I impressed that you didn't drop character? You should have dropped it from the beginning! How do you prepare for a serial killer? You gonna spend two years checking it out?"

Mikkelsen then adopted a mocking tone, adding, "'I'm having a cigarette? This is from 2020, it's not from 1870 – can you live with it?'" The actor used this as an example of the issue that he sees with method acting, calling the process "pretentious" and blaming the media for commending a performance based on how seriously an actor has approached it.

These comments come shortly after Will Poulter shared his opinions on method acting. In a recent interview with The Independent, the actor acknowledged that the way in which an actor chooses to approach a role is entirely their choice, so long as it doesn't impact the production in a negative way under the guise of staying in character.

"When it comes to an actor's process, whatever that is, so long as it doesn't infringe on other people's and you're being considerate, then fine," he said. "But if your process creates an inhospitable environment, then to me you've lost sight of what's important. Method acting shouldn't be used as an excuse for inappropriate behaviour – and it definitely has."

These remarks echo those of Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Pattinson, and Martin Freeman who have all previously offered up their thoughts on method acting. Jackson told Collider that ultimately the process of shooting scenes should be a positive experience for all involved, especially when filming difficult moments that carry extra emotional weight.

"Sometimes, when you're working with people who invest like that, it doesn't feel like they're having a good time," he said. "It's a job of playing make-believe. You do it effectively and you do it in a way that's not harmful to you because it's a safe space. You're supposed to be able to safely come into this space, work and give emotionally, and not be harmed by it."

The Batman star Robert Pattinson once told Variety that he respects the practice of method acting, though he noted that "you only ever see people do method when they're playing an a**hole." Martin Freeman criticized the practice, citing Jim Carrey's behavior working on the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon as a particularly noteworthy culprit.

Despite these opinions, the method acting approach is still frequently adopted by actors. NME notes that Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst didn't speak to each other on the set of The Power of the Dog in order to stay in character, while Vanity Fair says Lady Gaga spoke with an Italian accent for nine months to portray her character in House of Gucci.

Jared Leto is infamous for his wild method approach to acting, and that apparently didn't change much while shooting Morbius. In fact, director Daniel Espinosa confirmed that Leto's method acting process included using crutches to go to the bathroom, leading to delays between takes as he had bathroom breaks that could take up to 45 minutes.

Unfortunately for Espinosa and Leto, the actor's commitment to the character of Michael Morbius didn't exactly translate to a particularly well-received film. Morbius sits at 16% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the second worst-rated Marvel film behind the Fantastic Four reboot. IGN rated Morbius 5 out of 10, calling it "an origin story that lacks fangs and bite."

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

An Elden Ring player has beaten the game using only the Ground Slam Ash of War.

For those unfamiliar, this is basically the ground pound from Mario, where players jump into the air before slamming to the ground on their butt.

YouTube user Distortion2, an Elden Ring speedrunner who currently holds the world record for beating the game in under nine minutes, uploaded a two-hour highlight reel of his Ground Slam-only run, as spotted by Games Radar.

Unlike his speedruns, Distortion2 does defeat a number of bosses in this playthrough, and while he doesn't take on all of them, he does make his way through all Remembrance bosses (which are the main, tough ones).

This feat is also achieved from a completely fresh character, meaning it's not been achieved by bringing in an already over-powered Tarnished.

That being said, Distortion2 does deploy a number of tactics and buffs, all legitimate, to make himself, and his Ground Slam attack, incredibly strong. These include buffing his character with incantations like Golden Vow and Flame, Grant Me Strength.

While Elden Ring only released six weeks ago, several players have already tackled the game - which is hard enough to beat normally - in a number of wacky ways.

These include runs without taking damage, runs without dealing damage, and someone even beat an Elden Ring boss with a Nintendo Switch Ring Fit controller.

Just last week players also discovered a way to make the infamous boss Starscourge Radahn defeat himself, for example, luring him to the water's edge so that he splashes in and dies.

Elden Ring's other bizarre secrets discovered so far include a pair of fancy underwear hidden away in the game files and a hidden wall that only opens after 50 hits.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path."

To make those choices with the best available information, check out our full guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Nintendo is set to expand its main campus in Japan with a brand-new Development Centre.

The company has purchased a 10,000-meter square plot of land next to its existing headquarters in Kyoto and plans to build a new center, called simply “Corporate Headquarters Development Centre Building No 2”. The purpose of the building is reportedly to strengthen the company’s research and development and will be complete by 2027.

“In addition to the conventional R & D investment and capital investment, we have positioned the site to be acquired and utilized this time as having an important role in strengthening R & D,” they confirmed in an official statement.

We posted the News Release "The Acquisition of the City Owned Land Adjacent to Nintendo Headquarters”.https://t.co/iOKsJrbPka

— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) April 12, 2022

The land was once the site of the former Foundation Support Factory and Material and Disaster Prevention Center, owned by the city of Kyoto.

Now, Nintendo will use the land to build its new R&D center after purchasing it from the city at a cost of ¥5 billion ($39.8 million).

As part of Kyoto’s Corporate Location Promotion System, Nintendo will be granted up to ¥100 million ($1.4 million) every year for the following three years to help cover its operational costs. However, this is dependent on how many employees Nintendo hires at the new center.

It was previously reported that Nintendo would build two new offices – one at its former headquarters which previously housed the Nintendo Kyoto Research Center and its Mario Club QA team.

Another is housed on the 6th and 7th floors of the Kyoto City Waterworks Bureau’s new government building which Nintendo plans to rent from May 2022.

However, while the new Research Center was assumed to be built next to its existing headquarters, it looks as though it will instead be constructed on this new plot of land – directly opposite Nintendo HQ.

Elsewhere, it looks as though you can now stay the night in Nintendo’s old headquarters as its 1930s HQ reopens as a hotel.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Halo 3 and ODST can now be played crossplay through the Master Chief Collection.

Developer 343 Industries released a new update to the eight year old game (or 15 for Halo 3 and 13 for ODST) that adds a number of new features.

Namely, players can now play the campaigns of Halo 3 and ODST cooperatively with other players whether they're on Xbox One, Series, or PC.

Doing so may not work perfectly straight away, 343 Industries warned, as "the team requires additional insight from real players with different networking setups," they said in a blog post.

The update adds several other features to the Master Chief Collection and weighs in at 21.56GB on Xbox, 26.5GB on the Xbox PC app, and 11.2GB on Steam.

A new mode called Flood Firefight has also been added to ODST, which essentially adds new enemies to the pre-existing Firefight mode.

The Flood enemies bring some spookiness to the mode with a fog that accompanies them into battle, and can now occupy vehicles, wield support weapons like turrets, and infect ODSTs and Elite Majors.

General performance upgrades and bug fixes were made across all games in the Master Chief Collection, and 343 Industries has promised it will continue to improve it in the future.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: "Despite MP troubles, Halo: The Master Chief Collection's classic campaigns are amazing examples of FPS done right."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The League of Legends MMO may never be released according to the game's executive producer, but he remains "optimistic" that it still probably will.

Speaking on Twitter (the same way he announced the game in December 2020) Executive Producer of the MMO project at Riot Games, Greg Street, said there's "no guarantee this game will ship".

Street later clarified this is largely the case with any game though: "Until a game ships, you don't know it will ship", he told a fan. "We wouldn't be dedicating so much time to it if we thought the chance of shipping was low."

There is no guarantee this game will ship. We are optimistic, but you just never know until it does. However assuming it does, this will be the fourth major franchise I have worked on (AoE, WoW, LoL), and likely the last. And I am very okay with that. It will be a good final act.

— Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) April 8, 2022

The only reason it wouldn't be released, he said later, is if it's not up to Riot Games' standards. A fan asked why, if a lot of players wanted to play a League of Legends MMO, would the developer cancel it?

Street replied: "If it's not good. If we think it will disappoint players. We don't want to be a game that is hyped for two weeks and then fades from view."

He's also tweeted since saying that Riot Games is eager to hire people with no prior games experience for the MMO, in a discussion around getting started in the industry.

Riot Games has made clear in the past that, while it's eager to expand the League of Legends universe, it won't do so by sacrificing quality.

It released Ruined King: A League of Legends Story last year, which IGN said was great, and the Arcane Netfix show also expanded upon the game's lore.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Arcane is the first video game adaptation that’s truly a masterpiece, breaking new ground for what’s possible in TV animation."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Activision Blizzard is currently facing serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. To learn more, please visit our timeline as well as our in-depth report on the subject.

Kristen Hines will join Activision Blizzard from April 25, 2022, and already has her sights set on increasing the number of women and non-binary employees by 50%.

“I’m excited to join a company that is prioritizing its commitment to [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion], and making progress on the ambitious goals it has set for itself,” she said in an official statement. “In an industry with historical underrepresentation, I’m looking forward to leading the company’s efforts to further build a workplace that values transparency, equity, and inclusivity.”

Activision has confirmed that Hines will play a “crucial role” in the company’s efforts to increase the number of women and non-binary employees in its workforce over the next five years.

“Gaming has amazing potential to connect communities around the world and showcase heroes from all backgrounds,” she added. “I am looking forward to playing a part in expanding the landscape of talent who brings these compelling experiences to a broad base of players.”

Her appointment comes shortly after Activision Blizzard converted all QA testers to full-time employees. The move followed a walk-out by Raven Software devs following the layoff of “at least a dozen” QA contractors.

“Activision Blizzard has ambitious goals to become the most welcoming and inclusive company in the gaming industry,” said CEO Bobby Kotick. “We have already made significant progress ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees, and we are excited to have Kristen join our leadership team to help drive even greater improvement.”

Of course, this progress comes after a long and highly public string of harassment allegations that highlight a “toxic work culture” at the company, as well as the mistreatment of marginalized workers.

And while Hines’ appointment will hopefully go some way towards addressing these issues, it looks as though Activision Blizzard still has a long way to go.

“Kristen’s success leading complex transformation with measurable results makes her the right person to ensure we deliver on our diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments and build a model workplace aligned with our values,” said Kotick.

Activision Blizzard recently settled one lawsuit with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for a staggering $18 million. The funds will be made available to compensate eligible claimants, enhance existing policies, practices, and training, and engage a third-party equal opportunity consultant approved by the EEOC.

Despite demands that CEO Bobby Kotick step down from Activision Blizzard, the controversial figurehead currently remains.

Although one lawsuit has since been settled, the long-running scandal of harassment and a “frat boy culture” continues with the California state’s lawsuit over gender discrimination.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

The upcoming National Treasure Disney+ show just added a familiar face.

Although the ten-episode series will focus on a new cast, it looks as though there will be at least one returning star among them – Justin Bartha.

Originally appearing in the National Treasure movies, Bartha will reprise the role of Riley Poole, the fan-favorite nerdy sidekick to Ben (Nicolas Cage) who happens to be a computer expert as well as his best friend.

Throughout both National Treasure films, Poole was a valuable member of the team, often serving up historical and tech expertise while in-between quips.

Of course, with Poole back in the upcoming TV show, we can expect plenty of in-jokes and references to his earlier adventures… and perhaps even a mention or two of good old Ben.

Whether or not the show will tie into the films in any meaningful way remains to be seen.

The National Treasure live-action Disney+ show tells the story of Jess (Lisette Alexis), a brilliant and resourceful dreamer who embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to uncover the truth about her family's mysterious past and save a lost Pan-American treasure.

The series was previously in development with an older cast, but this was changed when the project switched over to Disney+.

Antonio Cipriano, Zuri Reed, Jordan Rodrigues, and Jake Austin Walker star as Jess’ friends who aid her on her treasure hunting journey. Catherine Zeta-Jones stars as Billie, “a badass billionaire, black-market antiquities expert, and treasure hunter who lives by her own code”. J Lyndon Smith also stars as FBI Agent Ross who helps Jess uncover the truth.

A third National Treasure film is thought to still be in development with Nic Cage.

National Treasure stars Lisette Alexis alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones, Zuri Reed, Jordan Rodrigues, Antonio Cipriano, Jake Austin Walker, Lyndon Smith, and Justin Bartha.

Mira Nair is directing the upcoming TV show based on scripts by Rick Muirragui. Jerry Bruckheimer, Jon Turteltaub, Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley, Jonathan Litman, and KristieAnne Reed are on board as executive producers along with Muirragui and Nair.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Sometimes a movie or show is so exceptional that a simple thumbs up or down just won't cut it. Netflix is aiming to solve that problem with its new "two thumbs up" rating option, which will give viewers the ability to express when something is truly special.

Netflix retired its five-star rating system about five years ago, replacing it with the much more streamlined and simplistic "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" options the service has today. The "two thumbs up" option will join the fray and allow users to provide valuable insight into what's trending and landing well with subscribers. The company says this will allow it to offer improvements to content recommendations all around.

“We’ve heard from members that there’s a difference between something they liked — and something that they really loved,” said Christine Doig-Cardet, Netflix's director of product innovation. “We’re giving them more control and agency over what is being shown to them.”

In case you're wondering, Netflix isn't looking to add a "two thumbs down" option any time soon. Doig-Cardet feels that the three options available now should “strike the right balance of simplicity with giving enough range of emotion.”

Netflix's choice to go with "two thumbs up" may sound like a rip-off of movie critics Siskel and Ebert's classic rating of shared approval, but the company says it's merely a coincidence. Either way, even the phrase itself should bring back fond memories for fans of the beloved reviewing duo.

Netflix's "two thumbs up" option began rolling out Monday and will continue to do so over the course of this week on all platforms. Once you have access to it, chase down some top-tier content worth two thumbs up by checking out the Best Movies on Netflix Right Now.

Billy Givens is a freelance writer at IGN.

Back to the Future's Christopher Lloyd is returning to the big screen this fall in a new movie about, of all things, the costume and prop store, Sprit Halloween.

Variety reports that Lloyd will star alongside She's All That's Rachael Leigh Cook and El Camino's Marla Gibbs. The rest of the cast includes Donavan Colan, Dylan Frankel, Jaiden Smith, and Marissa Reyes. Production has already wrapped, with the movie set to release this October.

The movie, appropriately titled Spirit Halloween, features a new Sprit Halloween store popping up in a deserted strip mall (much like how they seem to crop up in the real world), causing three middle-school friends to challenge themselves to spend Halloween night locked in the store. However, the building is haunted by a spirit who possesses the animatronic characters in the store.

First-time director David Poag is helming the project, with the screenplay provided by Billie Bates. Strike Back Studios is producing the film, with an official promotional partnership with Spirit Halloween.

Shows and movies based on real-world toys and stores are hot right now. In fact, earlier today we got more casting news for the Barbie movie. Beyond that, we know Randall Park is set to star in a Netflix series taking place in the last surviving Blockbuster.

For more, check out how Christopher Lloyd is also set to appear in season 3 of The Mandalorian.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Netflix is set to reveal the first trailer for Stranger Things Season 4 tomorrow, April 12, 2022, thanks to a tip-off from a spooky clock that mysteriously appeared in Santa Monica, California.

Today, a mysterious grandfather clock from the Creel House appeared in Santa Monica. This clock has mysterious vines and smoke emanating from it, and it was cordoned off with yellow tape. But fans of Stranger Things will recognize that this is the same grandfather clock that's been teased in promotional material for Season 4.

Alongside the grandfather clock, a 24-hour live stream countdown began on the Stranger Things YouTube page. IGN can confirm that this countdown will lead to the full-length trailer for Stranger Things Season 4.

Hawkins Lab is in LA investigating a mysterious clock… in the Upside Down?! ¿uɐǝɯ ʇᴉ sǝop ʇɐɥM @Stranger_Things pic.twitter.com/LHALTas7d4

— IGN (@IGN) April 11, 2022

Stranger Things Season 4 will be released on May 27, 2022, on Netflix. Set six months after the Battle of Starcourt, the cast is separate for the first time and must face a potentially greater challenge: high school.

Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, and the rest of the Hawkins crew returns for the fourth season. Fans will enjoy more Stranger Things than before in the coming season as each episode of Stranger Things season 4 is over an hour long.

Check out IGN’s 9 out of 10 review for Stranger Things Season 3 and our list of Best Horror Shows on Netflix. And check back on IGN when we’ll have more coverage on the Stranger Things season 4 trailer.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.