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Jeremy Strong says he need not apologize for method acting in New Yorker Radio Hour interview

Asked by David Remnick on The New Yorker Radio Hour about his method acting, Jeremy Strong said he doesn't feel he needs to apologize if colleagues find it too intense, calling it "in service of the material".

2 outlets · 2L · 0C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Variety
Image: The Hollywood Reporter

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The story, neutrally told

Left · 2Jeremy Strong said on The New Yorker Radio Hour podcast that he does not feel he needs to apologize to colleagues who think he takes his method acting approach too seriously. Left · 2Host David Remnick, editor-in-chief of The New Yorker, asked how helpful or disruptive his approach is to directors and castmates; The Hollywood Reporter says Remnick cited Strong's Oscar-nominated role in The Apprentice, where he added a scene that was not in the original script. Left · 2Strong replied that he could not really speak to that and that it is never his intention to interfere with anyone else's way of working: "First, do no harm, right? But commit to fucking what you’re doing, and utterly."

Left · 2Asked whether he gets frustrated with less committed colleagues, he said no, he is "just there to commit utterly to serving the material." Left · 2He added that if people feel it "changes the molecules in the room" and makes things uncomfortable, he does not feel he must apologize, because he and the directors he works with believe it is in service of the material, and he thinks many reactions to it are "of a personal nature." Left · 1Strong plays Mark Zuckerberg in Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning, out Oct. 9, which follows whistleblower Frances Haugen and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz; Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison, Bill Burr, Betty Gilpin and Billy Magnussen also star.

Left · 2Sorkin told The New York Times that Strong treated co-stars "the way he imagines Mark treats the people around him"; he said he told the other actors Strong would not socialize with them and added, "You cannot argue with the results." Left · 2Brian Cox, Strong's Succession co-star, has criticized the method approach, reportedly calling it "fucking annoying" and saying in a New Yorker profile that it is "a particularly American disease"; Variety notes he also said Strong "was wonderful to act with." Left · 1The Hollywood Reporter also recalls that Strong previously said the profile was painful and that remarks by co-stars were sometimes presented out of context, while insisting there is "deep respect and even love" among them.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left2 outlets

Framing
Both entertainment trade outlets lead with Strong's refusal to apologize and relay his quotes at length, setting them against Sorkin's and Brian Cox's earlier comments.
Emphasis
Strong's quotes, the Cox criticism, Sorkin's defence and the upcoming release of The Social Reckoning. Hollywood Reporter adds Strong's earlier reaction to the New Yorker profile.
Leaves out or plays down
Neither includes comment from Remnick or The New Yorker beyond the interview quotes, or from other co-stars on the new film.
Charged language
“now infamous”“method acting antics”“particularly American disease”
For example
“Jeremy Strong, now infamous for his dedication to method acting” — Variety
“Strong’s method acting antics have long made headlines.” — Variety
“It’s a particularly American disease, I think” — The Hollywood Reporter

Centre0 outlets

No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.