Jeremy Strong says playing Kendall Roy on ‘Succession’ messed with his head, big time
As if playing Kendall Roy during the award-winning run of “Succession†didn’t mess with Jeremy Strong enough, the character is still taking a toll on the self-described “identity diffusion†actor.
The part “f— me up,†Strong, 45, recently told the U.K.’s Sunday Times, describing how he was overwhelmed by the tortured eldest son he embodied from 2018 to 2023 — onscreen and off. Strong’s notorious acting methods also landed him in the crosshairs of his co-star and onscreen patriarch, Brian Cox, and “terrified†the show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong.
Fresh off a silent retreat to reset, the Tony Award winner said he would imagine terrible things happening to him to mentally prepare to play Kendall. He “sometimes lost touch with joy†while working on the series and only recently “rediscovered play.â€
His character, who schemed to succeed his ailing father as chief executive of the fictional Waystar Royco media and entertainment conglomerate, earned Strong his first Emmy Award in 2020, as well as two additional nominations. (The series earned 19 Primetime Emmys, six of them earlier this year for its fourth and final season.)
In the controversial Trump biopic “The Apprentice,†Strong takes on the role of notorious political fixer Roy Cohn and somehow finds a way into empathy.
“That show was an incalculable gift. The material a banquet. So I miss that. But Kendall’s struggle was difficult to carry for seven years. And there’s just so much more I want to do,†said Strong, who has also let go of the idea of a Kendall spinoff.
“I’m aware it is one of the main chapters of my life, but I don’t miss it,†he said.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times earlier this month, Strong spoke about his role as Trump mentor Roy Cohn in the controversial film “The Apprentice†and also denied being “gun shy†about doing press since the 2021 publication of a viral New Yorker profile. In that profile, several of his “Succession†collaborators described the unconventional lengths he would go to to play Kendall, garnering a raft of criticism for the actor.
“I think I’m a fairly earnest person, and that’s gotten me in trouble,†Strong said, “but I’m not interested in camouflaging or disguising myself. Life is too short.â€
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