Bowen Yang has a story about “Succession” star Jeremy Strong and his notorious Method acting efforts that he revealed for the first time on Wednesday’s episode of his “Las Culturistas” podcast with Matt Rogers.
According to Yang, the most recent season of “Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens” shot at the same studio as the fourth and final season of “Succession,” and “the ‘Nora From Queens’ production office was pretty close to the ‘Succession’ stages and their production office.” One day, according to Yang, Strong walked into the “Nora From Queens” office and asked where the bathroom was.
“As we famously know, Jeremy Strong is a Method actor, and at one point, Jeremy walks into the ‘Nora from Queens’ production office and says, ‘Excuse me, do you know where the bathroom is?’” Yang recalled in conversation with Rogers and guest Jon Lovett. “And then someone in the office was like, ‘Yeah it’s just down the hall to the left.’ He goes, ‘Thank you so much.’ He leaves.”
That was all there was to the encounter — until a “Succession” production assistant came looking for Strong a few minutes later.
“Ten minutes pass, and then a PA from ‘Succession’ comes into the office and goes, ‘Hi — was Jeremy just in here?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, he was. He went to the bathroom,’” Yang continued. “And then this PA goes, ‘Did he ask where it was? Did he come here to ask you where the bathroom was?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah… why?’ And then the PA says, ‘He has a scene today where he has to ask someone where the bathroom is.’”
Apparently, to prepare for the “Succession” scene in which he had to ask someone where the bathroom was, Strong decided that he had to ask someone in real life where the bathroom was — leaving a PA tracking him down along the way.
Yang shared the story to support his claim that Strong has a sense of play and irony in his acting, even though he’s notoriously a serious Method actor.
“I think that is Method to such a ridiculous degree that he must be in on the joke,” Yang said.
“Yeah, he must be giggling internally a little bit,” Rogers agreed.
Before Yang told the story, he discussed with Rogers and Lovett where Strong’s costar Brian Cox’s humor starts and ends. They questioned whether or not he found some levity in Strong’s process despite publicly being against it.
Reflecting on Yang’s Strong story, Lovett said, “I love that there’s someone who’s just like, ‘I need to ask someone to go to the bathroom. I need to fully internalize and understand this experience — I can’t access it — so I’m gonna drink a gallon of Gatorade and then go to an unfamiliar part of this lot and I’m gonna use that experience so I can draw on it later.”
Listen to the full episode of “Las Culturistas” here.
