 Olivier 's acting technique was <unk> crafted , and he was known for changing his appearance considerably from role to role . By his own admission , he was addicted to extravagant make @-@ up , and unlike Richardson and Gielgud , he excelled at different voices and accents . His own description of his technique was " working from the outside in " ; he said , " I can never act as myself , I have to have a pillow up my <unk> , a false nose or a moustache or wig ... I cannot come on looking like me and be someone else . " <unk> described how at rehearsals Olivier " built his performance slowly and with immense application from a mass of tiny details " . This attention to detail had its critics : Agate remarked , " When I look at a watch it is to see the time and not to admire the mechanism . I want an actor to tell me Lear 's time of day and Olivier doesn 't . He bids me watch the wheels go round . " 
