- Jeremy Strong says his work as Kendall Roy on "Succession" can be "torturous."
- He spoke to GQ about sacrificing himself for the sake of his leading role on the show.
Jeremy Strong, who in 2021 was at the center of a media storm over his comments on method acting in a now-infamous New Yorker profile, says his work as middle son Kendall Roy on "Succession" is "torturous."
Strong spoke to GQ about sacrificing himself for the sake of the "Succession" audience and stepping into the dark world of playing Kendall Roy. When asked whether doing so makes the process "torturous" for him, he replied, "Yeah."
Show creator Jesse Armstrong recalled a moment during the filming of season one of the hit HBO drama when Strong came to set with his wife on his day off.
"I didn't recognize him," Armstrong told GQ. "The way that he'd been carrying himself for the preceding weeks as he played Kendall in the dark place meant that his whole physicality was completely different."
In November 2017, before filming for the show's first season even began, Strong penned himself — as himself and as Kendall Roy — a note on Waystar Royco stationery which he later texted to the author of the GQ profile, Gabriella Paiella. It read:
"I NEED TO BE STRONG BUT I DON'T FEEL STRONG
I FEEL COMPLETELY ALONE IN ALL OF THIS
I HAVE TO BE THE LEAD BUT I DON'T KNOW IF I'M UP TO IT BUT I DO FUCKING KNOW"
It's not all bad, though. Strong finds enjoyment in the little moments on set, he said, remembering when someone told him, "Well done, mate," after a particularly difficult night of shooting during the first season.
"It's moments like that you feel like, 'Okay, I put myself through something that is difficult, and it's connected with someone.' And that's all that it really is," Strong told GQ.
Even still, Strong maintains that he likes to isolate himself from his costars on set, saying that a friendly relationship with his on-screen brothers and sisters feels "too casual," GQ reported.
"It'd be one thing if I was working on 'Friends' or something," Strong said. "I worked on a Guy Ritchie movie, and I approached that very differently."
Despite his decision to go at it alone, Strong expressed his love and admiration for his costars.
"I feel a lot of love for my siblings and my father on the show," Strong told GQ. "And it is like a family in the sense that, and I'm sure they would say this, too, you don't always like the people that you love. I do always respect them."