Credit: HBO

‘Succession’ star Alan Ruck weighs in on the Jeremy Strong method acting debate

Tue 28 March 2023 11:20, UK

One of the stars of HBO’s Succession, Alan Ruck has given his thoughts on the debate concerning co-star Jeremy Strong’s method acting.

The debate started earlier this month when Brian Cox, who plays patriarch Logan Roy in the show, slammed Strong’s approach to method acting, describing it as “American shit”. This followed his writing in his 2021 memoir Putting the Rabbit in the Hat that there’s “a certain amount of pain at the root of Jeremy”.

After Strong refuted Cox’s statement, claiming the pain was all in his character Kendall Roy, Cox responded: “I’m glad he is not in pain personally… It’s really a cultural clash…I don’t put up with all that American shit. I’m sorry. All that sort of ‘I think, therefore I feel'”.

“Just do the job,” Cox added at the time. “Don’t identify.”

Now, in a new interview with the Evening Standard, Ruck has given his thoughts on Strong’s method acting. He says he believes that “Jeremy is very hard on himself. And my personal feeling is that he doesn’t fully trust his talent. I think it could be an easier path for him. But he doesn’t believe it”.

Ruck also defended Cox: “I think Brian is actually worried for Jeremy’s well-being. Because Jeremy said one time that doing a role should cost you something. I think you do have to be fully invested, but if you need to give a pound of flesh every time you give a performance, at some point there’s not going to be anything left.”

“Jeremy’s brilliant. The proof’s in the pudding, right? He delivers beautiful work,” the Connor Roy actor concluded.