Succession star Matthew Macfadyen has joined the ranks of high-profile, critically acclaimed actors speaking out against the scourge on Hollywood that is method acting.
In an interview with Vanity Fair published this week, Macfayden bristled when he was asked about that controversial New Yorker profile of his co-star on the hit HBO drama, Jeremy Strong.
When the in-depth interview with Strong came out back in December, it triggered a firestorm of Twitter takes on the actor’s, um, intense approach to playing Kendall Roy. The piece portrayed him as utterly humorless (the headline of the article is literally, “On Succession, Jeremy Strong Doesn’t Get the Joke”), attributing the actor’s Emmy-winning performance to his deep commitment to staying in his character’s tortured psyche.
The provocative profile prompted a broader, ongoing conversation about the merits—and pretensions—of method acting, inspiring critics, viewers, and other actors alike to weigh in.
Since then, it has become practically impossible for any quote-unquote serious actor to do an interview without being probed for their views on the technique. As Strong’s co-star, however, Macfadyen seems ready to talk about something new. The Vanity Fair profile notes that the only time that Macfadyen, who plays Tom Wambsgans, got “visibly irritated” in their three-hour interview was when asked about Strong and the New Yorker article.
“I find it slightly aggravating because—it makes [the show] about one thing, and it’s an ensemble piece,” he told Vanity Fair. “You think of J. Smith-Cameron and Alan Ruck, who are fucking extraordinary actors. [Strong] is not the main event.” Do we detect a whiff of shade? Perhaps, but he is correct in pointing out that Smith-Cameron and Ruck, who play Gerri and Connor, respectively, are among the spectacularly talented Succession ensemble’s most fun performers to watch. #GerriAndRomanForever!
Macfadyen went on to express his gripe with the idea that actors who switch in and out of character between takes “aren’t as invested, or as involved, as someone who’s weeping in a corner.” Of his own approach to acting, he said, “I look at Jeremy—that’s Kendall Roy, and so my heart starts banging a bit faster. Because I’ve made the imaginative leap. Because that’s my job. It’s not about what I’m feeling or what state I’ve got myself in before, or any of that. That’s not to say that’s wrong. That’s just not useful.”
Hopefully, following Macfadyen’s thoughtful, impassioned, conversation-ending assessment, we can finally stop talking about a New Yorker article that came out five months ago. Instead, we can start campaigning for the former Mr. Darcy to win the Emmy he deserves for his Machiavellian turn as Tom last season.
