Jeremy Strong Lost Himself in Kendall Roy

Jeremy Strong has become one of the biggest TV stars in recent years his portrayal of Kendall Roy in succession not only launched him to stardom but has cemented him as one of TV's most iconic and impactful stars but in his rise to fame it became known to many just how seriously he takes the craft of acting which also came with a backlash from headlines labeling him a pretentious actor to co-stars calling out his acting methods strong has gained a reputation for his extreme approach to the craft leaving many questioning the boundaries between dedication and obs session today we will delve into the unique and sometimes controversial world of Jeremy Strong growing up in Boston in the 1980s Jeremy Strong discovered his passion for Cinema and found himself particularly fascinated by the art of acting with posters of their films on his bedroom walls he idolized actors like Daniel de Lewis Dustin Hoffman and alcino not only for the characters they played but the lengths they went to prepare for their roles after years of following their careers reading every bit of news and interviews they gave strong managed to Land crew J on their movies and was able to observe their work firsthand and he eventually worked directly with Daniel de Lewis as his assistant on the film The Ballad of Jack and Rose Daniel de Lewis is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time and is well known for his method acting deeply immersing himself into his characters to create the most authentic performances from learning new languages to isolating himself in the woods to get inside his character's heads his ability to transform into his characters is quite a unique one he became a mentor for strong early on in his career and left a lasting impression on his approach to acting Jeremy Strong spent many years hustling in the industry he started out in theater in his early 20s and by his mid-30s he had managed to land some supporting roles in big Hollywood movies in 2014 he sted alongside Robert Downey Jr in the judge as his autistic younger brother to prepare for the role he spent time with an autistic person just like Dustin Hoffman had for Rainman and asked for personalized props for his character that weren't in the script he also reportedly paced around the set weeping loudly for a funeral scene even though he wasn't required on set that day about Strong's approach Robert Downey Jr said all I know is he crosses the Rubicon then in 2015 strong started in a supporting role in Adam McKay's comedy biopic The Big Short to prepare for the role he followed his character's real life counterpart observing his mannerisms and habits which included constantly chewing gum which strong does in every scene he in for his performance in the film Adam McKay offered strong a part in an upcoming showed that he was executive producing and this was the role that would change [Music] everything York make it brown stalls water towers trees skycrapers f fighters and Wall Street Traders Jeremy Strong's big break finally came in the form of Kendall Roy in succession this was his chance to show the world what he was capable of the show follows the wealthy Roy family led by patriarch Logan who owns a global media Empire with Logan's Health on a downward spiral and the future of the company in question his children Kendall Roman and shiv engage in a power struggle for the CEO title for his role on the show Jeremy Strong has become a major sensation he's received Universal praise and has won many awards for his performance and it's very welld deserved he just has this insane ability to keep you glued to the screen to portray such subtle emotions and pull you into the psychology of this character this emotionally damaged guy who makes it his life mission to take his father's place I found myself so intrigued by this guy what drives him why is he so broken and how is he so Dopey yet so serious at the same time do you want to call your dad do I want to call my dad no I don't want to call my dad do you want to call your dad what he's done with Kendall is remarkable and will no doubt be cemented in TV history but as the show went on people started to become fascinated by Jeremy Strong himself the man behind the character throughout successions run people started to realize just how seriously strong takes his craft if you've watched any interviews you'll see not only how serious he comes across but also How Deeply passionate he is about acting and storytelling and with that Strong's method acting became a widely discussed topic to say he took the role of Kendall to the extreme would be an understatement and he very quickly got a reputation as quite an intense actor and there are a number of examples of his commitment to the role that blur the line between actor and character firstly strong prepared for the role by reading books such as a biography of rert Murdoch whose family the show is Loosely inspired by he chose various details from the book to use in his audition including the way James Murdoch would tie his shoelaces in one episode in the first season Kendall gets stuck in traffic and is forced to run a long distance in order to make an important board meeting to make himself sweaty and out of breath for the scene strong ran as fast as he could in his Tom four dress shoes and fractured his foot in the process in season 3 in an episode where Kendall celebrates his 40th birthday strong randomly jumped off a 5 foot stage as part of the party scene injuring his femur and causing himself to wear a leg brace we're getting into the last season here but I'm not going to give any spoilers or context for those who haven't seen it let's just say there's a scene where Kendall is very upset in the scene he sits alone on a bench at the park and stares straight out at the river completely unscripted and carried by the character strong got up walked towards the water and climbed over the barrier thinking that in that moment Kendall would have wanted to die although he said he didn't know what he was planning on doing the people on set of course thought he was about to jump and the actor who played his bodyguard colon raced over and stopped him before he could do anything stupid this example isn't from succession but I came across it in my research and I just thought it was too good not to include during a break in succession strong also starred in The Trial of the Chicago 7 directed by Aaron sorin while shooting a protest scene strong asked to be sprayed with a real tear gas about that sain said I don't like saying no to Jeremy but there were 200 people in that scene and another 70 on the crew so I declined to spray them with poisoned gas in 2021 strong became a controversial figure almost overnight when a profile of him in the New Yorker went viral the profile pointed out how strong couldn't see the humor in succession and detailed his extremely serious approach to the role to which Adam McCay said that's exactly why we cast Jeremy in that role because he's not playing it like a comedy he's playing it like he's and strong said about his role of kandle to me the stakes are life and death I take him as seriously as I take my own life many people ridiculed him and viewed him in a negative light seeing him as overly serious and pretentious and also as someone who would be a nuisance to work with throughout the show strong would isolate himself from his co-stars and refuse to rehearse with them as a way to create onscreen tension and the article featured thoughts on Strong's process from his co-stars including Kieran culen who plays Roman Kieran culen said the way that Jeremy put it to me is that you get in the ring you do the scene and at the end each actor goes to their corner I'm like this isn't a battle this is a dance he also said that he doesn't actually see Strong's process because of his self-isolation from the rest of the cast and that this doesn't always make working with him easy he said that might be something that helps him I can tell you that it doesn't help me but about strong Strong's process the most outspoken of his co-stars would be Brian Cox who of course plays Logan as a veteran Scottish actor he has a complete completely different approach to acting which he describes as a turn it on turn it off approach while he's praised strong as a terrific actor he stated in multiple interviews How concerned he is about Strong's intensity and what it does to him Jeremy is a very very dedicated actor he's incredibly dedicated I mean he works his ass off and he I mean I think he works to a point where I think he's he's in danger of you know you can't keep that up you know even D Lewis retired at the age of 55 Which is far too young to retire you know because I you know how can where can you go after acting you know taking that attitude to your work and it's it's a valid attitude I don't think it's a particularly healthy attitude he's also explained that there's a cultural clash between their views on acting and later said I don't put up with any of that American I'm sorry all that sort of I think therefore I feel just do the job don't identify but rather than calling it method acting strong describes his process as identity diffusion a process where he clears away anything that is not the character and the circumstances of the scene in other words he becomes the character and his connection to Kendall became deeply personal the character began to bleed into his personal life and almost become a real part of him so I guess it it does kind of take over your life I think um I don't know how to do it otherwise the writer of the New Yorker article even wrote in the piece I began to wonder if I'd been interviewing an actor playing Kendall Roy or a character impersonating Jeremy Strong Jeremy strong strong has admitted that the role of Kendall took an emotional toll on him he said that the character's dark story line in the first season in particular was a harrowing time for him and that it's not fun to live in that place but for him this is just a necessary part of his process he believes that he has to put himself through whatever the character is going through and not crack the Persona until the work is done so I guess I felt like I needed to experience that as rigorously as I could so that I might be able to understand it better and thereby embody it so that the audience can have a palpable you know felt experience of it he has explained why he takes his work so seriously with a father who ran a juvenile detention center and a mother who was a nurse he's admitted that his work is not as serious as theirs but may in some way feel a moral obligation to make his work important by his own standards in light of his parents work but more generally he believes the real reason is because he was so heavily influenced by his acting Heroes growing up and their dedication to creating meaningful work while strong was open about how the New Yorker profile made him feel a bit of Shame he still never changed the way he works he said am I going to adjust or compromise the way that I've worked my whole life and what I believe in there wasn't a flicker of doubt about that I'm still going to do whatever it takes to serve whatever it is in other words the man does not give a what you think I have to hand it to Jeremy Strong he's a fantastic actor and a very interesting guy I don't know that method acting is completely necessary to give a great performance and often it can come off as obsessive or straight up insane nearly jumping into a river because you've lost sight of reality is definitely taking it too far and it's not hard to see how this style of working would be exhausting for the people around him to deal with however on the flip side everyone has their own creative processes and ways of doing things and Strong's process clearly works for him his methods come from a place of genuine passion and dedication and the result is nothing short of an iconic performance