Jeremy Strong thinks AI is incapable of writing shows like ‘Succession’
As Succession is rounding down its final season, Jeremy Strong has expressed gratitude for the terrific writing on the show. While the man behind Kendall Roy has been known for his biting lines in the show, he also wagers that any machine can’t equal the quality of a film writer.
When appearing on the companion podcast to the TV show, Strong suggested that there is a slim chance that AI could recreate artistic writing, saying (via The Times), “AI ain’t gonna write Succession, or Chinatown or The Godfather. It’s just not going to”.
This comes after a major shakeup in Hollywood following a strike from the Writers Guild of America which began this May. Strong would also touch on how important good writing is to any great film or TV show, explaining, “If we don’t nurture and provide the infrastructure and the apparatus to support and engender and create another generation of writers who are deep thinkers, who are grappling with the big things, then what’s left is decadence”.
Among some of the writers that Strong would praise are Eric Roth and Aaron Sorkin, who have been known for their distinctive style of dialogue. To illustrate his point, Strong also brought up a quote that stuck with him, elaborating, “There is a Lincoln quote that I’ll paraphrase. An industry that does not honour its writers will not long endure”.
With Succession wrapping up, Strong also praised the writing that Jesse Armstrong brought to the show, going on to say, “It’s Jesse Armstrong’s astonishingly brilliant writing. He’s writing with such understanding of human beings and their complexities, fallibilities and pathos. And there’s such a subterranean level underneath it”.
Despite praising the writing on the show, Strong did admit having a visceral reaction to how the show wrapped up for Kendall, explaining, “I think that Jesse maybe intended that in the writing, this sense that Kendall has lost, but maybe he’s free. And maybe he’s going to keep walking. I guess I felt with everything in my body that there is no coming back from this”.
While the hit drama is coming to a close, Strong has kept busy with other projects as well, starring last year in the movie Armageddon Time. Strong will also be stepping outside of the camera lens, appearing on Broadway next year in an adaptation of the play An Enemy of the People.
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