Succession Star Brian Cox looks a lot more like Logan Roy than we thought. The veteran actor has been involved in a public back-and-forth with co-star Jeremy Strong, who plays his on-screen son Kendall, over his infamous method of acting.
In a new interview with Variety, Cox was more blunt than ever in approaching the debate. While praising Strong as “a wonderful actor”, he pointed out that the debate is truly “culture shock”.
“I can’t stand all this American shit. I’m sorry,” Cox said. “All that ‘I think, therefore I feel’ kind of thing.”
The comments come just weeks after Cox called Strong’s method “fuckin’ boring.” But he also argued that Strong was “talented” and “gifted” enough not to need it. He recounted a moment from filming when Strong stayed in character long after performing a scene with his co-stars and on-screen siblings Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin.
“He’s still that guy, because he thinks if he went somewhere else he’d lose it. But he won’t! Cox said at the time.
When we talk to Variety, the actor pointed out that Strong worked with Daniel Day-Lewis early in his career.
“Of course, Jeremy was Dan Day-Lewis’ assistant. So he learned all of that from Dan,” Cox remarked. Strong was Lewis’ assistant on the 2005 film The Ballad of Jack and Rose before the two starred in the 2012 film lincoln.
“Just do the work,” Cox said Variety. “Do not identify yourself.”
We can’t ignore how much this public back-and-forth mirrors their on-screen relationship as Logan and Kendall Roy. But it looks like Cox won’t have to deal with Strong’s method acting much longer, as Season 4 will be the series finale.
The actor praised Succession creator Jesse Armstrong for deciding to end the series after just four seasons.
“He’s very disciplined that way, and he’s also very British that way,” Cox said. “The American inclination is to milk it for all it’s worth.”
Succession Season 4 will show the Roys battling the impending sale of the family business, a media megacorporation called Waystar Royco, to tech entrepreneur Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård). The Season 3 finale showed Cox’s character, Logan, essentially cutting his children out of the business.
Despite Logan’s cold business moves against his family, Cox said he still believed he loved his children. “If he didn’t love his kids, it would be so much easier,” he said. “It’s his Achilles heel.”
Succession returns to HBO and HBO Max on March 26.