Brian Cox on method acting: “I don’t put up with all that American shit”
The star of the HBO show Succession, Brian Cox, has doubled down on his hatred of method acting, stating in a recent interview: “I don’t put up with all that American shit”.
In conversation with Variety, Cox was asked about the method acting technique of his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong having previously stated 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 the actor’s statement, saying the pain was all in his character, Kendall Roy, Cox replied by explaining: “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’”.
Despite his impactful words, Cox calls Strong “a wonderful actor” but continues by exclaiming: “Just do the job…Don’t identify”.
His concern with the acting practice comes from his working relationship with the British performer and three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, who he worked with on the 1997 Jim Sheridan film The Boxer. A popular method actor, Cox blames the technique for Day-Lewis’ early retirement, stating: “He retired at the age of 55, and I’m going, ‘That’s when the roles become really interesting. You’ve retired just at the point when actually the roles get better!’”.
These comments from Cox mirror his thoughts from late 2022, in which he remarked in a post-screening Q&A: “I don’t hold a lot of the American shit, having to have a religious experience every time you play a part. It’s crap…I don’t hang onto the characters I play. I let them go through me. The thing is to be ready to accept, as an actor. You stand there, you’re ready to accept whatever is thrown at you”.
Take a look at the trailer for Succession season four, in which Brian Cox stars, below.
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