Brian Cox Talks About Jeremy Strong Asking Him to Hold Back on Method Acting Conversations: “He’s a Great Actor”
Three years after the conclusion of HBO’s acclaimed series Succession, Brian Cox is addressing some of the tensions that characterized the Roy family on-screen.
The Golden Globe-winning actor recently referred to his former on-screen son, Jeremy Strong, as “a wonderful actor.” This praise comes in light of previous comments where Cox described Strong’s method acting as “f*cking annoying” during a 2023 interview.
“I don’t want to go on about Jeremy, because I’ve got into a lot of problems and he’s begged me to stop talking about him,” Cox stated in an interview with The Times. “He’s a good actor, Jeremy. He’s a wonderful actor. It’s just all the bollocks that goes with it. You watch children — they don’t say, ‘What’s my motivation?’ They just do it!”
Although promoting the fourth and final season of Succession, Cox reasserted his admiration for Strong, asserting, “He’s a very good actor,” while emphasizing that understanding a character and their actions is just part of an actor’s skill set. He reiterated his frustrations, stating, “It’s f*cking annoying. Don’t get me going on it.”
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Cox’s comments have garnered attention, prompting even fellow method actor Daniel Day-Lewis to respond after being mentioned in the context of the debate.
Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox in ‘Succession’
Strong has shared his own approach to acting, which he describes as “identity diffusion,” differentiating it from traditional method acting. He explained, “I think you have to go through whatever the ordeal is that the character has to go through,” emphasizing the importance of immersing oneself in the character’s experience.
Strong elaborated, “If I have any method at all, it is simply this: to clear away anything—anything—that is not the character and the circumstances of the scene. And usually that means clearing away almost everything around and inside you, so that you can be a more complete vessel for the work at hand.”
He reinforced his dedication, stating, “To me, the stakes are life and death. I take him as seriously as I take my own life.”
Cox portrayed Logan Roy, the patriarch of the Waystar RoyCo conglomerate, throughout the show’s four-season run from 2018 to 2023. Strong played Kendall Roy, one of his children, along with siblings portrayed by Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, and Alan Ruck, who each vied for control of the family business.
