Jeremy Strong knows he sounds like a jackass

Jeremy Strong sounds as good as a turd for the sake of high art.

The “succession” star, whose Method acting techniques became controversial fodder following an infamous New Yorker profile in 2021, dealt with colloquially quoting other artists in interviews.

“I’m sure it sounds like an ass when I say something like that,” Strong said GQ. “(But) I’m still just quoting shit because that’s who I am.”

Strong added: “People have been making fun of me for as long as I can remember. I had an old girlfriend who called me Kierkegaard. I am like a walking book of aphorisms.”

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic and religious author who is considered the first existentialist philosopher.

“Maybe the quote is just part of the armor,” the “Armageddon Time” actor said. “I don’t come from a very cultured, highly educated family…I come from a family with a lot of emotional intelligence, presence and empathy. But when I went to Yale, I felt like I had to compensate for a lot of things, and part of that was probably a way to cope and to feel like I belonged in that environment.”

It was the New Yorker profile, which included quotes from “The Successor” co-star Brian Cox, that sent Strong back into a similar mindset of having to belong again.

“I haven’t felt judged like that in a long time,” revealed Strong, who described the post-release period as “15 minutes of shame with a long tail.”

“I was less bothered that other actors had feelings or opinions about my work. It was really just a feeling of being exposed, Strong explained. “Everyone has a right to their feelings. I also think Brian Cox, for example, has earned the right to say whatever he wants. Didn’t have to deal with that or damage control… I really love my brothers and my dad on the show. And it’s like a family in that sense, and I’m sure they would say the same, you don’t always love the people you love. I always respect them.”

He summed it up like this: “Do I want to shape or compromise the way I’ve worked all my life and what I believe in? There was not an iota of doubt about that. I will continue to do my best to be of any service. Which isn’t to say it’s the same as riding over other people. This is related to autonomic concentration. It’s a very lonely thing. I think it has very little effect on other people, except for what they want to project and how it might make them feel.”

Strong previously told IndieWire that after playing Kendall Roy on “Succession” for more than six years, the character feels “indistinguishable from me.”

Strong said, “This entanglement is a really important and vital place where elements of yourself and elements of your work merge. It is impossible to determine where one ends and the other begins. I’ll probably take it with me from now on. The show has become iconic in a way. (Although) Kendall to me is just another role that I play.”

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