Sarah Snook doesn't approach Succession as a comedy or drama

The Hollywood Reporter

"On either side of things, you have to play it with a level of truth and commitment," said Snook, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter two days after the Season 3 finale. "The reason Parks and Recreation is funny is because they’re committed to their characters. They’re committed to the moment that their characters are in. That’s why it works. I think it’s the same thing with Succession. The writing is there. It gives us funny lines to say, but they’re comedic moments because you’re doubling down on who the character is." Snook was also asked about her "excruciating"-looking scenes with Matthew Macfadyen. "To be honest with you, most of the time we’re laughing because it is so excruciating," she says. "When Shiv’s come home drunk after that conversation with her mom, every time we played that scene it would be like, 'Ha ha ha.' It leaves a really bad taste in your mouth because you’re saying these things which are so hurtful, but the joy of it is just to go, 'Can we say this and have it be believed?' You just double down on the truth and whatever internal reasons there are for saying these things, and it works." Snook was also asked if Succession would be seen differently if it was binge-released. "There’s something about the density of the language and all that happens — the sort of fleeting, really funny lines — that I think you’d miss," she says of a binging Succession. "It’s like digesting a good meal, not a protein shake you have and then just run on."

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• Alan Ruck has no problem with The New Yorker's profile of Jeremy Strong: "I think The New Yorker came to Jeremy," Ruck tells Men's Health. "They said, 'We want to do a piece about you because you're a wonderful actor and you have this eccentric way of preparing. We think that's a good story. You want to do it?' And he said, 'Yeah,' and he said, 'Yes, I do do all those things. I do whatever it takes to bring a character to life.' He said things like—I can't remember if it was this article or another one. I think it was this one—he said, 'I'm not sure that the set should be a comfortable place. And I think that it should cost an actor something whenever he performs.' Well, that's what Jeremy believes. That's what he believes he needs to do to get himself into his zone so he can deliver his best work. And does that make him crazy? No. Does that make him a better actor? Well, he thinks it does, but there's a lot of other actors who are just as good who don't do that. So it's just what he believes. It just makes him Jeremy, it doesn't make him anything but just Jeremy, who is a wonderful actor. Right? So then other people like, say, Brian (Cox) say things like, 'Well, he's hard on himself. And sometimes that means he's hard on us.' Well, that's true. I mean, yeah, it's true. And he also says, 'I worry about him because he can't seem to separate himself from the work.' And that's also true, so all of us have been a little concerned about Jeremy, but maybe he'll be fine. Maybe he's fine."
• Director Mark Mylod says filming Succession in the Tuscan hills proved challenging: “That was our biggest technical challenge, I think of the whole shoot,” Mylod says. “That was even harder than shooting at Matsson’s villa (which had no roads going in to it). For the walls to be closing in, (and for more) pressure on these characters as the light and the countdown to facing their father… there was an element of the operatic to that scene and to build that tension in the changing light… Because obviously there’s different coverage looking to different directions, towards Kieran and back towards Jeremy and Sarah. It was a lot of coverage.”
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