“The method acting that pays my bills”
An actor playing the role of a teacher probably gets paid more than an actual teacher. Perhaps an actor playing a singer gets paid more than just a singer being a singer.
Lots of singers in the entertainment industry are actors. With names made for the stage and life stories that are all fake.
(Stage names and fake backstories for the characters that they play) The Beatles, for example. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, etc are stage names. All of them were replaced in 1966 after they stopped touring. Colin Unwin on Facebook is the original John from 1966 and before. He posts clues and pictures of him with John Halliday, who is the original Paul. They went back to living their normal lives, and stopped their roles after just a few years. John Lennon, the character, is dead. But his actors are alive. Why are Elliott Smith’s lyrics constantly foreshadowing things that later happen? The entertainment industry is wild.

Not an improvement just an addition-reminds me a lot of Kurt Cobain’s struggle with being known for depression, and acquiring fame from that reputation that is then exploited for funds.
“Teenage angst has paid off well, now I’m bored and old” from Serve the Servants on In Utero/the entire song In Bloom from Nevermind are good examples of that. With the rise of “heroine chic” in the 90s bringing about the general commercialization and glamorization of poor mental health, it makes a lot of sense.

Elliot lied about the song “miss misery” and said it was written for the soundtrack of “Good Will Hunting” so it could be nominated for an academy award, and it is know Elliott felt guilty for this even though it did not win

I think this is right on. The guys in Hollywood know that human beings like to subscribe to others who are much more extreme than them. It’s because it makes us feel better. For example, a person who feels bad about their weight will take pleasure in watching a show about the super-obese. It’s natural. People who listen to Elliott Smith are probably also sad people, or people who know what it is to be in a state of sadness. Elliott was to sadness what a classified morbid is to obesity.

The “method acting” Elliott is referring to is that of Matt Damon, Robin Williams & Ben Affleck, in the 1997 hit, “Good Will Hunting.” The soundtrack for “Good Will Hunting” featured a number of Elliott Smith songs, including the Academy Award nominee for Best Song, “Miss Misery.” Elliott was likely receiving substantial residuals at the time that “King’s Crossing” was written. He’s recognizing that – while his earnings from the film provided were enough to support his music, they also tied him to a corporate film producers that benefited at the top.

This also hearkens back to the king/subject metaphor of the first verse.

I think this part refers to the morgue and the morticians job where time reverses when preparing the body.
The pretty nurses are a nod to the allure of death, and the final line can be understood as a cry for help, or the more literal carrying away of a corpse on a slab

I think this lyric is an allusion to his song “Pretty Mary K” from the album Figure 8. The song Pretty Mary K is about dying (or possibly already dead) soldiers in an infirmary.