I hate Realism

So I just had my ACT class tonight and we had a guests teacher who is this strong believer in hyperealism. Basically, whatever the actual scene you are doing doesn't matter. What matters is where you are right now. So if your scene takes place in a car, he doesn't want you to pretend or think you are in a car. He wants you to be in the room at that very moment. To me, that's not acting, it's philosophy. Acting is not being real, it is about giving the perfect illusion of reality. I got really frustrated and upset about this class. Add the fact tha tI haven't slept much in the past four days and my patience was wearing thin. I kept thinking aobut the annecdote about Dustin Hoffman and, I believe, Lawrence(sp?) Olivier in Marathon Man. Story goes that in one scene, they are suppose to be out of breath after a race. So Dustin Hoffman goes and does about thirty laps around a building and comes back panting. Olivier just looks at him and says:"Dustin, we're actors. Act!" Burn! I just feel that actors are there to tell a story, and unless they are doing their own autobiography, it's not their life or emotional history that the public wants to see. They don't want to see my scene partner and me, they want to see Thelma and Louise. Now I can use past experience to relate to what the character is feeling, but in the end, that's what it is, another character. Well, every once in a while, you will be force to work on things you don't enjoy. At least what I can take away from that is that I discovered what styles appeal to me and I can build from there.