Jessica Chastain Has Jumped To Jeremy Strong’s Defense Over The New Yorker Profile About Him

Earlier this week, The New Yorker published a profile on Jeremy Strong, an actor who currently plays Kendall Roy on HBO’s Succession. Jeremy did a very good job of making himself seem like the type of person who’s always cranked up to 11 on the Intense Actor Scale, and his near-constant method antics have made it so he remains an enigma on set to the rest of his fellow cast members. And also, maybe at home to his family, with whom he might also be method acting (he’s not sure). At best, that profile made it seem like Jeremy Strong was not the kind of person you’d ever want to be trapped in an elevator with. But Jessica Chastain decided to do a little damage control for Jeremy, and let everyone know that he isn’t the pretentious twat that he comes across as in that profile.

People were pretty divided on that peek inside Jeremy’s process, with some people thinking he kind of rules for being such a deliberate weirdo, and others thinking it was a classic case of TOO MUCH. Either way, Jeremy didn’t need a cheer squad to rise up and convince us that he’s a good guy, and yet, here’s Jessica Chastain to do just that. Jessica and Jeremy worked together on 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty and 2017’s Molly’s Game. So Jessica knows Jeremy. Enough that she felt comfortable implying that The New Yorker was guilty of publishing a hit piece and that only “one side” of the story was told. I don’t know about that. The New Yorker talked to so many of Jeremy’s fellow cast members, and former directors like Aaron Sorkin, and they were all, “Yeah this guy is…something.” But please Jessica, take it away:

Ive known Jeremy Strong for 20yrs & worked with him on 2 films. Hes a lovely person. Very inspiring & passionate about his work. The profile that came out on him was incredibly one sided. Don’t believe everything you read folks. Snark sells but maybe its time we move beyond it.

— Jessica Chastain (@jes_chastain) December 8, 2021

So Jeremy is inspiring, passionate, and lovely, and not whatever the New Yorker made him out to be in their one-sided snark rag. I think the vibe was “humorless try-hard,” if I had to nail it down. Except the only thing is, this is an actual quote that came out of Jeremy’s mouth!

“To me, the stakes are life and death,” he told me, about playing Kendall. “I take him as seriously as I take my own life.”

Jeremy Strong himself said in the profile that he’s not a method actor, but someone who practices “identity diffusion.” I know Jessica wants us to move beyond snark, but even a pretentious phrase enthusiast like Gwyneth Paltrow probably thought, “No! Identity diffusion? Jeremy, that’s too much.”

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