For the first 30 years of his career, Alan Ruck was sure he would always be remembered as Ferris Bueller’s sad best friend. Then Succession came along and changed everything.
In this episode of The Last Laugh podcast, Ruck shares his thoughts on the end of Succession, including what lies ahead for Connor and Willa’s marriage, the story behind filming that “virtual dinner” with Brian Cox, and why creator Jesse Armstrong made the right decision to quit while he was ahead. The actor also reveals why he asked for his character to be killed off in Season 2 and how the role he was waiting his entire career for has altered his professional legacy.
Yes, Ruck has heard the online theory that Cameron Frye from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Connor Roy from Succession are somehow the same person. And he understands the connection: “Two messed-up sons of very wealthy fathers, all the privileges, none of the love.”
In some ways, it wasn’t until he found success on Succession that Ruck could fully appreciate the love that people have for the 1986 film that put him on the map. “I actually really disliked that movie for a while,” he admits. “There was a period not too long after that where I couldn’t seem to get any work. Things were not so great. And then I thought, ‘Well, that’s it, that was my one shot and I need to go find another way to make a living now.’”
Despite some especially difficult years immediately following Ferris Bueller, Ruck managed to succeed as a working actor for more than four decades, with small but memorable parts in big films like Speed and Twister, along with a regular role in the sitcom Spin City. But there was nothing that had the cultural impact of Ferris Bueller until producer Adam McKay invited him over to his house to audition for the role of Connor Roy, aka the “first pancake,” on HBO’s Succession.
“I wanted a show like this for so long, that was ostensibly a drama but was just wickedly funny,” Ruck says. “And then this showed up and was beyond my wildest dreams.”
Warning: Abundant spoilers ahead for the final season of Succession.
Below is an edited excerpt from our conversation. You can listen to the whole thing by subscribing to The Last Laugh on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts, and be the first to hear new episodes when they are released every Tuesday.
When did you film that “virtual dinner” scene with Logan Roy? And what are your memories of shooting what turned out to be a really sweet scene with Brian Cox and some of the other actors on the show?
We did that on my absolute last day of work. And then we filmed the scene of me and my siblings watching it later that day. We did it all in one day because Brian had different things going on and he could show up for a day, and it happened to be my last day of work, me and Justine Lupe [who plays Willa]. So the whole thing was bittersweet. And it was tricky because we actually filmed that whole “virtual dinner with Dad” thing on an iPhone, just to give it some reality. And Justine, for much of it, was the camera operator. She did a really good job. There was one point that didn’t wind up making it into the show, where she hands the phone to me so I can film her doing famous quotations from Shakespeare and so forth. And me and cellphones, me and technology, this is not a marriage made in heaven. If somebody hands me a phone, I grab it the wrong way and I’m in some different app. And that’s what happened.
You messed up her take?
I fucked it all up.
We did get to see you do your Logan Roy impression. Was that a little intimidating to do in front of Brian Cox?
No, because I think something that Brian and Logan share in common is, like, “Grow a pair, just do it. Go ahead, let’s see what you got.” Brian’s a wonderful guy and he’s got a great sense of humor about himself. So it wasn’t really intimidating at all, it was great fun.
What do you think that scene tells us about Logan’s relationship with Connor, which has always seemed so strained and distant? For me, watching it, you realize that they did have a closeness that maybe we never got to see, compared to his relationship with the other kids. Is that how you saw it?
Absolutely. I think we saw a few hints of this along the way. In the first season, there was a scene in a car where we’re just talking about things and my political plans and all this kind of stuff. And he’s very patient. He just says, “Well, why don’t we just concentrate on one thing at a time?” So I think over the years, Logan carried some guilt about Connor, because he had this boy with this woman, and the marriage was a disaster. I mean, Connor was probably a special needs kid—ADHD and other things that were never properly addressed. And then the old man divorces the mom, and she’s in and out of institutions, and she’s got pills and vodka problems. So I think that on some level Logan has carried a bit of guilt about Connor, even though he’s a bitter disappointment. If it doesn’t pertain to the business, Logan’s not that interested. But I think we had some moments where he could sort of let his guard down around Connor because it didn’t matter.
There was not that same pressure with the other kids for them to become something. He kind of felt like Connor, despite his ambitions to be president, had maybe become what he was going to become?
The Shakespeareans call that being a bit fond, or slightly touched. And Connor is not stupid. He does some really dumb things, but he’s not stupid. He reads. I once described him as being like a pack of Trivial Pursuit cards that’s all mixed up and doesn’t make any sense. I think his head is jam-full of just arcane and weird, obscure knowledge that doesn’t really add up to much of anything. He’s just who he is and he’s a little scrambled. And I think Logan, on some level, is like, “Well, this is my boy who’s touched. This is my simple boy.”
I feel like you’ve brought a lot of yourself to this character over the seasons. What do you think it was about you that made Jesse Armstrong, Adam McKay, and the rest of the show’s creators want you for this role? What did they see in you that they wanted to see in Connor?
You’ll really have to ask them. I’m not sure. At one point, Kieran [Culkin] said, “I don’t think they knew who Connor was until you showed up.” He was basically saying that I’m Connor. So I don’t know how I feel about that. But just in the email my manager sent to me before the audition, it said, “He’s not in line to take over the company. This part will grow over time.” And so the good news/bad news is he’s not key to the central drama, but I also didn’t have the pressure of being involved in the central drama. So it was kind of a dream part. I got to fly in for a few days, say some really insane shit, and then go away, and then they chop all the wood and carry all the water and keep the story going forward. They come from comedy—Adam and Jesse both come from comedic backgrounds—so maybe they just felt like I could handle the lighter or sillier moments.
Did you ever have misgivings about not being in the show more? Or scenes that you loved getting cut out?
Well, the first season had gone very well and I had some stuff to do. And then the second season started and I was in a bunch of family scenes, group scenes, but I didn’t have any scenes that were just, like, me and another person. I was always saying some random stuff in the midst of a gathering. For three episodes, I didn’t really do anything. And I actually wrote to Jesse and [director] Mark Mylod and I said, “What do you think about killing me off?” And I’m grateful that they said, “No, no, no, no, no, we need you, we need you.” And, “There’s not much right now, but there will be more later.” And they were true to their word. There was an awful lot of story to tell, so I kind of got my head out of my ass a little bit about that. This is just my part in this play and so let’s see where it goes. And I’m thrilled that they didn’t take me up on my offer.
You really felt like you wanted them to kill you off because you didn’t have enough to do?
It’s vanity. At the end of the first season we had made this big splash. It was kind of a slow roll and then it just took off like a rocket. I was like, “Oh man, this is huge.” And my vanity was, I’m on maybe the best show on television right now. But people are like, “Who do you play?” The way the show is written is the way that a lot of people reacted to my presence, or lack of presence, on the show. They’re like, “Oh, yeah, Kendall, the eldest son?” So that was a true thing of me being like, “No…” So it was just my vanity of wanting to do more in an excellent, excellent show.
There is that great breaking point in the Season 3 episode in Italy where you assert yourself as the eldest son, and you really kind of give them a piece of your mind for the first time in that way. Did that feel cathartic to get that off your chest as Connor?
It was thrilling. And first of all, I was so pleased to have been given some teeth. Jesse gave Connor some teeth in that, and he stood up for himself. Because up until that point, he’d been kind of a verbal punching bag. He’d say something that was just off the wall and then Kendall would quickly say, “You’re a moron,” and then that was it. There was no snappy rejoinder. There was no cool comeback for Connor. As opposed to somebody like Roman, who just would have whipped out his word sword and started dueling with Kendall. So yeah, it was easy to do that scene.
How do you feel like the show changed for you after Logan’s death, after Brian Cox was gone? Do you feel like there was a void, and it kind of had to end at that point?
Yeah, I did. I mean, Jesse told us almost a year ago, not too long before we started reading through the first episode of the last season, that Logan was going to die in the third episode. And of course, he’d spoken with Brian before. And it’s like, if the sun is extinguished, then what do the planets do? They’ve lost the thing that really has held them together, and it absolutely had to end because I don’t know what the show would have been had it continued past this point. It wouldn’t have made any sense to me.
How do you feel now that it’s officially over and the last episode has aired? Did you ever urge Jesse Armstrong to keep it going after you had asked to be killed off?
Well, you know, I’m so glad that they said no, we’re keeping you. Because, frankly, we got nice raises in our third season, so I’m glad I didn’t miss that. I think it was in the third season, a journalist asked [writer] Georgia Pritchett, “How long do you think it’ll go?” And she said no more than five seasons, probably four. And at the time I didn’t want to hear that, because I was like, this is the ride of my life! But now I know it was exactly right. And I think Jesse is very smart. We went out on the highest note possible for our show. It would have been a disgrace to do an additional season just to make money… I mean, I’m crazy about the crew and the cast, they’re just wonderful people. And if it was just a selfish thing like that, like, “I don’t want to give this up because it’s too much fun,” it would have been a great disservice to the show. And it would have turned into something sad.
I’m already hearing some people predicting that there’s going to be a Succession movie somewhere down the line, or another season, or even a Christmas special, in the U.K. tradition. Could you imagine anything like that?
A Christmas special?! [Laughs] I don’t know what that would be. I was talking with Nicholas Braun [who plays Cousin Greg] and I said, “The only thing I could see is a ‘disgusting brothers’ spinoff.” But that would be wildly different in tone from Succession and they’d have to go back to Jesse’s comedy roots. And Nick said, “I don’t think Matthew [Macfadyen] or I would really want to do that.” Because there was something so pure in a way about this show that you kind of don’t want to tart it up by hanging ornaments on it to keep it going. It would not be good.
What doors do you feel like this job has opened up for you professionally? Has it changed the types of roles that you’re being offered?
Well, to tell you the truth, before this show I got offers to maybe do an episode of this, that, or the other thing. It wasn’t like I got offers to do a movie, like, “We want you to do this movie, do you want to do it?” I always had to go meet people, read for them, whatever, and I’d made peace with that. But now people are just calling up and saying, “Would you like to do this?” Which is very nice. And I’ve waited for it for a long time. It’s very, very satisfying when someone clocks your work and they’re like, “Oh, yeah, that part we have, he could totally do that. See if he wants to do it.” So that’s what this show has done for me. I’m also getting offered pricks and bastards. And they wouldn’t consider me for that stuff before. So maybe it’s the age I am now, or maybe it’s the Succession influence, but I’m getting offered more interesting parts. Not just the goofy sidekick.
People finally see you as something more than Cameron.
Yeah. Yeah, they do. And it’s really satisfying.
Listen to the episode now and subscribe to The Last Laugh on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts, and be the first to hear new episodes when they are released every Tuesday.
