Succession Basically Saved Jeremy Strong's Career (Even Though He Almost Lost the Gig)
Succession made almost the whole world talk about Jeremy Strong – one of the brightest actors in the cast of the series.
However, before the HBO hit, few people heard about the actor and he did not bask in glory.
From his youth, Jeremy Strong admired Daniel Day-Lewis, Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman. In high school, Strong had the opportunity to see Al Pacino live.
At 18, he helped Al Pacino edit his directorial debut, Looking for Richard, and a few years later became part of the sound team on Steven Spielberg 's Amistad.
Strong had no connections in the industry; he found them himself – taking any job, writing endless letters to crew members. His efforts paid off: DreamWorks wrote him a letter of recommendation that helped him get into Yale University.
Jeremy Strong moved to New York immediately after graduating from Yale in 2001. However, for almost a decade, the actor did not get any worthy roles.
In the early 2010s, the actor was finally noticed, starring in Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Selma, The Big Short and Molly's Game.
Strong's breakthrough year was supposed to be 2016, when he landed one of the lead roles in Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit, and Succession producer Adam McKay offered him to pick himself a suitable role in the upcoming series – he chose Roman.
Things did not go according to plan: after the first day of shooting, Bigelow fired the actor as she found him unconvincing. Strong managed to convince her to give him at least a small role.
At the same time, Kieran Culkin had stolen Roman Roy from Jeremy in Succession. Strong was upset, but decided to audition for the role of Kendall, for which he was cast.
Culkin recalled that during the filming of Succession's first season, Jeremy was afraid that the audience would mistake the series for a comedy.
The seriousness of the actor has become the subject of jokes among fans of the show.
That's understandable: like his character, he spent his life in the background, dreaming of one day taking a place at the top.
The creators were pleased with the resemblance of the character to the actor. Adam McKay, for example, defended him, noting that seriousness is one of Strong's main assets – for him it was not a comedy, but Hamlet.
As a result, the role of Kendall Roy brought him worldwide fame and recognition.