Succession star Jeremy Strong has long been known for the extreme lengths he’ll go to perfectly execute his performance as passed-over son, Kendall Roy. In the past, he’s faced criticisms of taking it too far from those closest to him, including his co-star and on-screen father, Brian Cox. Now, with the HBO series winding down on its fourth and final season, another report of Strong’s obsession with nailing his character has come to light courtesy of Saturday Night Live and Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens star Bowen Yang.
On the latest episode of his co-hosted podcast, Las Culturistas, Yang shared a memory of the Succession star from when they crossed paths during filming. According to the Bros star, the hit HBO series had cameras rolling in proximity to Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, and one day, Strong wandered over to the neighboring set. “Jeremy walks into the Nora From Queens production office and says, ‘Excuse me, do you know where the bathroom is?’ and then someone in the office is like, ‘Yeah, it’s just down the hall to the left.’ [Strong] goes, ‘Thank you so much’ and he leaves.”
Innocent enough, at first glance it seems like a genuine interaction between a man on the hunt for the bathroom, and the people holding all the answers but the Fire Island star said that soon the truth came out. After Strong was off to find the facilities, Yang says that just a few minutes later, a production assistant came over to ask if anyone had spotted the Humboldt County actor. Upon confirmation, the PA said, “‘He has a scene today where he has to ask someone where the bathroom is,’” with Yang adding, “I think that is method to such a ridiculous degree that he must be in on the joke.” As dedicated as he appears, Yang believes that Strong knows his reputation and, at this point, is hamming it up.
Who Else Is Known for Method Acting?
The practice of fully diving into and immersing yourself in the character, method acting has long been demonized by the industry with many claiming that it does more harm than good. Recent examples would include Austin Butler in his role as Elvis - a performance that would see the actor unable to shake the musician’s iconic accent and the horror stories from the set of Suicide Squad when Jared Leto took his role as Joker a little too far. In the past, legendary stars like Robert De Niro dipped their toes into the method pool with De Niro researching his career-defining role in Taxi Driver by sitting behind the wheel and setting the meter as a real cabbie.
As for Succession, the fate of Waystar Royco will be revealed in the series finale on May 28. Check out a preview of the finale below.