Successon’s Jeremy Strong Defends Method Acting Strategy After Complaints From Co-Star

Succession is now completely in the books, with the hit HBO series airing its series finale over the weekend. The occasion is leading to a lot of discussion about Succession‘s past and future — and in the case of one of the series’ stars, a defense of their acting approach. In a recent interview with Deadline, Kendall Roy actor Jeremy Strong addressed complaints from his costar Brian Cox, who essentially panned his method acting as “f-cking annoying.”

“What I’ll say is I think that what happens in the workplace and on a set is sacred and should be protected and safeguarded,” Strong explained. “And that includes how people feel about how people work and how people work. You know? It’s a bit of like a “don’t talk about Fight Club” situation. I’ll also say, I think Brian is a brilliant actor. I’m glad he’s having this time in his career. It was one of the great privileges of my life to be in the saddle with him.”

“The truth is this, you prepare, you learn your lines, you prepare as best you can,” Strong added. “And then the rest is kind of a mystery, and everything else is kind of bullsh*t, you know? Like that, actually, I’m probably not that different from Brian, he’s probably not that different from me. We’re all trying to get at the truth, and however anybody comes out of it is valid. I mean, you can’t argue with the work that he does, and I don’t think he can argue with the work that I do.”

“Yeah, it’s complicated,” Strong continued. “You know, I listen, I work the way I work, and I don’t know how to do it any other way. I work only to try and serve the material the best I can. As for the white noise, you’re right. We’ve come into this place, in our time, where we’re talking about how much turpentine and linseed oil is this painter mixing and what hand is he holding the cigarette in, and less about “what is the painting?” What is the work? So, you know, that whole dialogue in a way, I’d rather just sort of leave that alone. It’s the work that matters.”

Why is Succession ending?

In an interview earlier this year, series creator Jesse Armstrong corroborated comments some of the series’ stars had hinted that Season 4 could be the final run for the series. Season 4 is just over a month away from debuting on HBO.

“We could have said it as soon as I sort of decided, almost when we were writing it, which I think would be weird and perverse,” Armstrong explained. “We could have said it at the end of the season. I quite like that idea, creatively, because then the audience is just able to enjoy everything as it comes, without trying to figure things out, or perceiving things in a certain way once they know it’s the final season. But, also, the countervailing thought is that we don’t hide the ball very much on the show. I feel a responsibility to the viewership, and I personally wouldn’t like the feeling of, “Oh, that’s it. guys. That was the end.” I wouldn’t like that in a show. I think I would like to know it is coming to an end. And, also, there’s a bunch of prosaic things, like it might be weird for me and the cast as we do interviews. It’s pretty definitively the end, so then it just might be uncomfortable having to sort of dissemble like a politician for ages about it. Hopefully, the show is against bullshit, and I wouldn’t like to be bullshitting anyone when I was talking about it.”

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