Bowen Yang Shares A Jeremy Strong Method Acting Story, Suggests He Does It To A 'Ridiculous Degree'
Everyone knows that Jeremy Strong, who plays Kendall Roy on "Succession," is a committed method actor; a famous story from the filming of "The Trial of the Chicago 7" details that Strong asked that actual tear gas be used on him during a protest scene. (That request was, understandably, denied.) According to "Saturday Night Live" star Bowen Yang, who ran into Strong while the Emmy winner was working on "Succession," he maybe takes things... a little too far.
As Yang recounted on the podcast he hosts with Matt Rogers, "Las Culturistas," he was working on Season 2 of "Awkwafina is Nora from Queens," which shoots in the same studio as "Succession." After noting that Strong is, in fact, a method actor, Yang said, "At one point, 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.' He goes, 'Thank you so much' and he leaves."
At face value, this doesn't seem particularly strange. That's when things get weirder. As it turns out, Strong asked that very specific question because it was related to a scene he was doing on "Succession" that day, which Yang thought was... kind of insane.
Bowen Yang revealed the ridiculous reason why Jeremy Strong asked about the bathroom
"Ten minutes pass, and a [production assistant] from 'Succession' comes into the office and goes, 'Hi, was Jeremy just in here?'" Yang continued. "And they were like, 'Yeah he was — he went to the bathroom,' and then this PA goes, 'Did he ask where it was? Did he come here to ask you where the bathroom was?' They were like, 'Yeah, why?' and the PA says, 'He has a scene today where he has to ask someone where the bathroom is.'"
"I think that is method to such a ridiculous degree that he must be in on the joke," Yang concluded, also saying that the entire story hopefully lends credence to "the idea that Jeremy Strong has a sense of play and irony."
Strong's performance as Kendall Roy is definitely lived-in and beyond excellent, but one can only hope Yang is right that this is all a larger joke. After all, obsessing over exactly how your character would do something as banal as ask about a bathroom's location is a little much... but as intense as Kendall is on-screen, it seems like Strong is just as intense off-screen.
Jeremy Strong's Succession colleagues don't love his method acting
This is far from the first time someone has come for Strong's method acting — in fact, his fellow "Succession" cast members have talked about it at length, especially his on-screen dad Brian Cox. Speaking to Seth Meyers, Cox was gentle and caring about the entire endeavor: "[Jeremy] does get obsessed with the work. And I worry about what it does to him, because if you can't separate yourself — because you're dealing with all of this material every day. You can't live in it. Eventually, you get worn out."
In an interview with Town & Country after that, though, Cox was far more blunt. Asked about what it was like to work with Strong on "Succession," Cox didn't hold back. "Oh, it's f**king annoying. Don't get me going on it," the veteran performer said. "He's a very good actor. And the rest of the ensemble is all okay with this. But knowing a character and what the character does is only part of the skill set."
Ultimately, Cox's point was simply that he was concerned that Strong worries he can't do the job without method acting, saying his on-screen son is gifted enough that he doesn't really need it. It doesn't seem like Strong is going to give up the method gambit any time soon, though — and depending on job he snags after "Succession," maybe you'll see him out in the real world preparing for it in some bizarre, overcommitted way.