Brian Cox isn’t afraid to say that “Succession” co-star Jeremy Strong’s method acting gets on his nerves.
“Oh, it’s fucking annoying,” Cox told Town & Country in an interview published Tuesday. “Don’t get me going on it.”
While the Native Scotsman has expressed prior concern over Strong’s method acting affecting his mental health, the 76-year-old has recently found it more maddening than ever.
“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,” he told Town & Country.
“Succession” has become a flagship for HBO since premiering in 2018. The hilariously cynical (and often quite Shakespearean) show sees billionaire Logan Roy (Cox) and his children, including son Kendall (Strong), in a dynastic battle for media industry power amid personal turmoil.
While fans have been waiting since 2021 for the fourth season to arrive, presumably no one is as relieved to have wrapped filming as Cox — who previously told The New Yorker he worries about the “crises” Strong “puts himself through” by staying in character.
“He’s still that guy, because he feels if he went somewhere else he’d lose it,” Cox told Town & Country. “But he won’t! Strong is talented. He’s fucking gifted. When you’ve got the gift, celebrate the gift. Go back to your trailer and have a hit of marijuana, you know?”
While writer Michael Schulman delivered an insightful piece with his 2021 New Yorker profile on Strong and his penchant for staying in character, it appeared to hit a nerve and drew a flurry of celebrities like Jessica Chastain to defend their fellow actor.
Strong himself ironically addressed the long-held criticism in another piece published Tuesday.
“Everyone’s entitled to have their feelings,” he told GQ. “I also think Brian Cox, for example, he’s earned the right to say whatever the fuck he wants. There was no need to address that or do damage control. I feel a lot of love for my siblings and my father on the show.”
Strong added that method acting was about “autonomous concentration” and that this “very solitary thing” had little to no impact on his co-stars — “except for what they might want to project onto it and how that might make them feel.”
The actor notably added he had no plans to change this. While Cox told The New Yorker in 2021 that he worried about his co-star getting “worn out,” the beloved acting titan might be nearing a different sort of exhaustion himself — as he continues to be flooded with requests to tell people to “fuck off.”
“Succession” Season 4 premieres March 26 on HBO and HBO Max.