Jeremy Strong has admitted he has found it “really painful” to be misunderstood and thought of as a certain way in the media.
The Oscar nominee has become infamous as something of a serious figure in the acting world, not helped by an article about him published in the New Yorker in 2021, in which his Succession co-star Brian Cox made it clear he was unimpressed with Jeremy’s hands-on approach to acting (something he’s spoken about repeatedly in the years since).
Asked about this widely-shared profile, and the public’s reaction to it, during a new interview with GQ Hype, Jeremy admitted: “It was really painful.
“It’s painful to feel misunderstood and misrepresented, and I’m sure there were things about it where looking in the mirror can also be painful.”
When the interviewer asked about Jeremy’s earnestness at a time when sincerity is becoming more scarce, he agreed: “I think the fact that cringe has become a word is evidence of that.”
He also brought up a recent advertising campaign he did with the US fast food chain Dunkin’ Donuts, in which he poked fun at his own reputation.
“I did [the ad] because it was my answer and response to all of that stuff,” he said. “A repudiation of it. A way, in its own form of risk, of actually poking fun at myself, poking fun at this absurd notion.
“I’ve never called myself a Method Actor. Never once. The Bean Method is as absurd or as legitimate as these ideas that are going around.
“So I had fun with that and I thought it was just a way of saying ‘Listen, I take what I do extremely seriously, but I don’t take myself all that seriously’.”
Jeremy is currently in the running for an Oscar thanks to portrayal of Donald Trump’s former mentor Roy Cohn in the film The Apprentice.
The polarising movie is up for two awards in total, with leading man Sebastian Stan also nominated for Best Actor.