'Succession' Star Brian Cox Reveals He's The Only Cast Member Who Knows What Happens in New Season

hi my name is Kate Arthur and I'm varieties editor at large with me today is the cast of succession which was created for HBO by Jesse Armstrong the cast has assembled from around the globe to talk about filming season two we have Brian Cox who plays Logan Roy the family patriarch Jeremy Strong who plays Kendall Roy Sarah snook who plays shiv Roy Karen Culkin who plays Roman and the eldest Roy son and presidential candidate Alan Rock who plays Connor also with us is Matthew mcfadian who plays shiv's husband and waystar royco executive Tom wamsganz Nicholas Braun who plays Logan's Grand nephew and human internet meme cousin Greg last but not least general counsel Jay Smith Cameron who plays Jerry alert [Laughter] all right Jerry Jerry so my first question was for Brian um Brian Logan starts out the second season having squashed Kendall's coup but still having to fight off the Hostile takeover how did you approach his season to Ark [Music] we don't actually get a knock bit of a luxury to get a knock I think we'll get Ox now because I've had time to write season three so I think there's going to be lots of marks there but we did not we don't haven't we didn't have a knot you just you just start we have a lot of knocks but not necessarily ours we just started with with it you know I can't remember what the first what's the first episode again of season two we were at the Summer Palace you know in the middle of winter in Southampton yeah yes that's right yeah yeah so um yeah I mean we had to uh come to a you know I realized that things had to be reformed I said well we had to really look at things again in a way and also uh I have to attend to the possibility of my new Heir as my other air has sort of uh blown it a little so he's now in secret conversation with his daughter uh I think that's right it's not right Sarah is that right I got it right so long ago I can't remember and uh then we started to kind of shape it about how you know having season one being so much about Kendall season two looked as if it was going to be more about the the blossoming of uh of uh uh of uh yeah sorry Siobhan so it's kind of you know it's kind of we kind of do it as we come along to it I mean that that's been the kind of style of the show is that we don't really know where it's going at first it irritated the hell out of me that it doesn't know where we're going but actually in the end I actually liked that I like the fact that it's in it's unknown so in a way you can actually contribute quietly to a sense of travel as it were but there's no you know we have no we had we had no structure for that and we also dealt with each episode as it came so it was chronological I think in a new paradigm that will not be the case but I also think I also now know uh what's going to be happening in season three which I can't tell you of course but I do I I was actually let in on that before I um before what's gonna happen [Laughter] I can't tell you but I was trying something else to do I had a meeting Roy you can do whatever you want I had a meeting with Jesse just before lockdown and he said do you want to know what's happening on the next season I said hold on I said no I'm not sure this is right I'm not sure you should be telling me this but he told me and uh it's Jolly excited that's all I can say it really is and it's very very surprising what's going to happen oh my God but I can't tell you oh my God you love it look at him I can't tell you no it's like bad santa but I never really bad sound yeah Nate this is completely new completely new because we didn't know from you know I think some people have kind of tried to find out about their Arc but I I gave that up and then of course that no surprise was Jesse telling me what my art was going to be in the next season which is by the end of the Fall by the end of the end of the call you're gonna spill the beans no I'm not no I'm not this would be a great venue to spill it Brian I know but it ain't gonna happen um Brian do you think of Logan as cruel how do you find his Humanity in order to play him well I think he's very human I think he's incredibly human uh there's more to him in meets the eye he's slightly mysterious I don't think he I think he loves his children but they are kids cover this there are a little bit of a disappointment shall we say and I I think it's that little bit of a disappointment that he's been dealing with um I mean there's a question I asked Jesse from the word go does he love his children he said yes he loves his children very much so so once you've made that commitment you then have to find a way of dealing with them and their foibles shall we say for the want of a better word and that I didn't find it I mean he is not a tolerant person um Mr Roy and he's a bit quick uh but he's also he also plays things close to his chest as well at the same time and that's how he's able to achieve what he's been able to achieve because he doesn't give everything away and and he takes pars as he did in season two with the the whole really meaningful thing of of shiv as the possible Contender for taking over and that just didn't work out it did not um for the Roy children Jeremy Kieran Sarah Allen how much time have you all spent figuring out the Dynamics among your characters like whether whether you're fighting over a phone or for your father's chair in the boardroom you all feel just so much like siblings with years of History together and I know that's not easy to do how have you done that I think we just sort of figured that out in real time on set um we all have siblings right yeah so uh I don't know I feel like a lot of it's in the writing and then playing with each other I think early on um I just slapped snook in the face and she beat the [ __ ] out of me so I think from there it's just sort of are you the most sibling everything fell into place what stuff what are you the most sibling kind of person like like in a friendship me yeah I don't know I still I was just telling Jazz my wife today that um I was holding the baby our baby's actually pretty fat at the moment and I was like I hope you don't inherit my like overeating thing and my wife said where'd you get that and I said I there's seven of us my mom would come home with like four corn muffins and I wouldn't be hungry I would just have to eat one or I wasn't gonna get it so I was just competing to eat so I think my whole my whole life is living like in like a wolf pack of just survival so maybe that's it maybe that's why it was not so hard for me to slap you up I also think Kate I also think that we trust each other um that's it and I don't think we really had to earn that even I think I I know that I've trusted these guys really from the beginning and it was just an implicit thing but there's a sense of we'll just follow each other's lead within a scene and we're all sort of all in all the time I think and so so it's it so so so you know that the moment you mentioned where we're struggling over kieran's phone uh you know it's not something you need to prescribe or rehearse you just sort of you know go for it with each other and uh and and and and in a way uh the show kind of lives Dangerously in that way because you can you can kind of find find the limits with each other I also think that there's a genuine affection and respect in the whole cast for everybody's abilities and just for for uh everybody as people and with the respect that and the trust that uh Jeremy's talking about you can go anywhere you can go anywhere from there because it looks so and I it occurred to me that we don't do any rehearsal really very very little and it's just um I think it's sort of wonderful it's the writing and it's just it feels like a company you know we all sort of it's I think from the very beginning from the pilot it felt like that I felt very sort of I felt quite Brave and free to screw it up or you know but I knew everyone was there you know everyone was there equally screwing it up but there there are things too where we haven't really talked about the background of like what our childhood was like not really and there's something in that I think is kind of cool because we all we kind of Discover it in the moment as we're doing a scene I can sort of visualize what our childhood was like without ever having really discussed it and like Jeremy said it's kind of like a dangerous sort of area to live in because it might not hit or whatever but there's something about when we like hang out in The Boathouse I felt a sense of like Nostalgia for our childhood even though I have no idea what that looks like me too and and also in that scene even you know that was from the other season but I it did feel like a discovery of ease you know with each other which which which we all have but we often don't get to live in a place of ease in the material uh but it's nice to know that there is that Repose and we had a bit of that I guess on the boat in a different way when we're when we're making fun of Sarah with with those with or with with the with the voices yeah making fun of you yeah um Alan will you ballpark for me what you think Connor's chances are on the election because I'm just looking around the world that we live in and I sort of say he has a shot this is the United States of America and anything can happen you just gotta believe you just gotta believe it and uh it just might happen you're ready Nick and Matthew cousin Greg and Tom they both seem to have shreds of decency left why do you think they want to be in this family I mean it's exciting to be in this family you know once you get a taste you sort of want to just keep it you want to stay in I think you know for me coming from living with my mom you know sort of a Pill Popper sort of a codependent weird relationship that we have like I come into this world and there's the potential for a lot of money and to be close to power and to learn how to be more powerful and to um potentially like rise up the ranks and I think for the first time in Greg's life he's he feels like of value um so I think that's exciting for him I'd say much the same and I I think Tom's certainly in love with Chef you know and that's I thought you're gonna say Greg but whatever that too yeah [ __ ] yeah think about season three I think not Thompson is sort of in constant Flux Of being frightened and kind of really wanting to be accepted and you know and and he's not without ambition but he's he doesn't it's it's a lot of fear Brian Brian you said something about warm scans after the first season that he's sort of just a he's like a ball of panicky ambivalence yeah it could be true for a lot of us I think yeah yeah Tom Tom is a shape-shifter he's so many different things to different people he's totally different everyone he me you know I guess we all are varying degrees but he really yeah and it's not I don't it's not it's not considered or you know there's nothing contrived about it he's just sort of yeah I guess it's a way of surviving and I don't know Nick and Matthew um can you talk about when you realized how well the two of you click was there a particular episode when you felt like it was working or started working it doesn't feel like it's working yet but [Laughter] um I know when I'm just gonna say when we shot the pilot on the softball field that scene where you like give me a kiss because my understanding was you guys didn't even rehearse that I remember the camera going saying just go and you guys did it and I was on the other side of the field and I was laughing my ass off I could barely hear you and I was like yeah this is great that was that was really funny but even more than even before that we were shooting in the um in Logan's apartment and both of us had gifts for Logan I had my little thing and he had his watch box and there was just a moment that I won't forget where it was probably the first take or something and I was eager to give him my gross tissue paper soggy weird sweaty thing and you also had this thing and we shared a look and you looked at my box like you're compete you also have a gift and in that moment I think we understood the relationship um a little just sort of like don't step on my toes thing and yeah and that kind of rides through our whole our whole relationship yeah I don't really like that you're real family either like the cousin yeah and I don't like that you're taller than me [Laughter] yeah well I hunch a little I hunch a little to get a little below you so that you feel better yes so now we're gonna play the first clip for our first clip we have the start of Roman and Jerry's very special relationship when he calls her from the training program a feeling of hopelessness has set in for those watching from afar leading many to wonder what is the best way to explain this tragedy to Children Pierce news contributor David Stanton joins us David first off are we obligated Roman what is it now you know I'm still pissed off I didn't give me any good footage seriously are you treating me like I'm a piece of [ __ ] you are a piece of [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] I found a rough diamond out here and I want to bring him back with me fast track him also you should build my ride [ __ ] I'll email you it's genius you're not building a ride that you came up with on your first day of management training Roman my human ideas Fountain you're acting like an over-excited little boy one fan emailed me and called The Sex step by dynamic between Roman and Jerry one of the sweetest relationships on the show which is certainly one way to describe it how did that emerge Jay would you like to start well I think we have the same idea that it can't right that when we were shooting the end of season one right am I right and we uh so sometimes what they do oftentimes what they do is they leave the camera rolling after they finish run out of dialogue just to see what the creatures will do how will they and they just leave the camera rolling and I think that Kendall and Roman were having like a conspiratorial chat or something in the corner and they and their conversation broke up and Roman drifted over to the bar where Jerry was sort of flying across the room at them and we had a little repartee that was just made up some [ __ ] and then it was about martinis naturally and then Roman drifted out of the room and Jerry just like looked checked out his ass as he left and I turned back to my martini and then a little bit later there was a laugh off camera and I learned later I think right Karen that you looked back at Jerry and I think that maybe they didn't use that footage obviously in that episode but no I mean my law told me that he saw it in the editing room that we both checked out each other's butts without knowing and he was like there might be something there but we weren't just talking about martinis if you remember like it started off like a little bit kind of with a little sexual innuendo in character and by the last take I was basically asking if I could have sex with your tortoise if you remember that but like we it was getting kind of gross I think but I was doing it the whole season where like in character trying to do something kind of sexy to Jerry and he would just sort of flip it away and I never thought that they would ever try to do anything with that but um but it's cool they kind of like experiment in the show they're just yeah let's let's do a little bit and let's see if we like it and I don't know I've had I've had to masturbate like three times on camera on a show that my mom watches but you know it's nice to do that with you Jake thank you Kieran what do you think Romney's sexuality is um I honestly don't think he has any idea really either um it's actually we talked about it before we even shot the pilot and it changed a little and now it's just sort of I kind of have my ideas about it but honestly I don't think that Roman has really thought about it much so I only really would know as much as he knows if that makes sense so it's me got any theories [Laughter] I don't know um the the scene with Tabitha um yeah anyway um um uh Nick given cousin Greg's goofball Persona how do fans approach you I just picture a lot of shouting of cousin Greg like is that what it is yeah uh they they yell on the street sometimes it's nice that they put the cousin in front of it um people don't call me Gregory and it really ticks me off um that's gonna take a couple of seasons to land that's not instant it's gonna take a while yeah I need to really push that no sometimes they more often than not they call me Greg the egg um so that really stuck but yeah I don't know it's yeah what can I what can I say it's kind of it's kind of weird speaking of cousin Greg for our next clip we're going to show the now Infamous scene that had me both cringing and laughing at home let's take a look at the start of the boar on the floor scene bar on the floor hey okay it's a game in the corner over there stand there go go go go go go um all right Tom me yeah uh Pierce yeah um well that's a lot of factors and but yes I personally I like it I like it bore on the floor over there Jerry stand up done up peace you played it before no well actually I to be perfectly honest I've had a few doubts honesty you see everybody do you see honesty Greg stand up did you get any orders from my brother the [ __ ] conscience of the prairies me yeah uh don't uh yeah I could I've had some doubts too oh [ __ ] doubta over there but the rules are that you're spared if you tell the truth and I just told you the truth oh There Are Rules right do you know something Greg there are no [ __ ] rules of okay Roman I like it for real dad signed the [ __ ] up um okay Kendall took a call from the biographer we all got a call Rome okay yes but you see he seemed like he wanted to actually talk to her to smoke you out for Dad what what [ __ ] you why do you get to smoke me out I'm smoking you out what did you tell us about your mystery Cole oh the phone call uh yeah it was Frank he meant to call you he wants to know if the plan overthrow data is still happening someone spiked Pierce which one of you boys did it yes sit on the floor it's fun seriously yeah it's a game boar on the floor I really I feel get down war on the floor bore on the floor Kendall ring the troops boy on the floor guys right on the floorboard or on the floor come on Frank Brian good God what did you make of it when you read what Logan had to do in that scene well both uh Tony roach and I Tony roach who wrote it and I who had to play it were both very apprehensive whether it was going to work or not I was worried because I thought would get I'm giving away too much of the sort of raging um the Raging Logan and I thought ah how do I get out of this how do I recover from this and then uh of course I had to remember my own note that it's a game you know he does play these elaborate games and he takes them quite seriously also the level of treachery that's in the air is you could cut it with a knife so he's finally said he's had enough of that what's been going on you know he's just he's just said enough so he's reached a form of breaking point you just um you know he kind of realized that that it was very out there and that kind of worried me but actually it worked both to Tony in my surprise it worked and it became you know a sort of episode that people kind of went oh wow that was something you know Brian I thought you were just like uh Titanic in that scene you know and it it it it it it it it it felt uh I remember the way you wheeled in the the dessert trolley or the whatever whatever was in that tray you know that you sort of wheeled it in with this sort of Glee and Mania and and the show entered into this uh you know I mean the show often kind of goes into the absurd but that felt in a very exciting way like we were in this place that felt absurd and it almost felt like we needed a safe word on the set uh to sort of you know uh uh yeah it's funny you should say that because funny enough that was based that entrance was based on uh something I did 30 years ago in Titus andronicus I had a very similar entrance where I had to you know the tituses baked the kids in a pie right and he comes on with his chef's hat and I was Wheeling this thing on and I had that kind of ludicrous out of this world Dimension and uh that sort of came back to me as I was doing it that willing that trolley I suddenly thought this is a film I couldn't remember what it was this was a familiar thing but suddenly this memory came back from over 30 years ago and I thought oh I know ah yeah this is how I'll make it work yeah because because of this year as you say the absurdity of the whole thing it was interesting for me because I wasn't really part of the game or or part of you know I I was a recessive presence unless you were but I felt like I was the boy on the floor and had been for the for those four episodes and although I wasn't crawling around on the floor and being force-fed sausages uh uh you know in in a sense I wasn't and far worse yeah then he puts his hands on you right which is like such a powerful moment in that scene where you're sort of like oh wow he just got a cage put over him you know everybody else is a target here but he just got a shield or at least that's all you know to me watching it and and for me too because that was the moment when he comes at me I couldn't help I knew you know I feel like I know what's happening I was scared every time I was scared that something different was gonna happen yeah yeah if Brian just yelled four on the floor I was gonna have to walk over to the corner like all right it was pretty scary every time Matthew what is it like to shoot those big huge scenes like with the whole family that have to be really I assume carefully choreographed what are those like uh I love I love them I love those great big scenes they're kind of longer the better it feel they feel very um I don't know it feels like doing I I I've done all of this and I it feels like doing a play and they're very energizing because you're you have to because they're so long and usually we do these long takes because we have lots of cameras you're everyone's concentrating and it's and it sort of flies by and it's not a chore it's sort of Wonderful it makes you um as a matter it makes you less it makes you stop worrying about what you're doing and paying attention to the others I find always yeah um which is great I'm sort of sales by and it's it's just thrilling because it's different every time and so I love them I love them the great big set piece scenes that we get like on the yacht or the Thanksgiving or you know it's great often the camera just floats around picking up the dialogue but also what we're saying on the other end of the table we do these no we have these we have these often dinners you know like the dinner with the um The Pierces and it's just great because often you know when you shoot those conventionally sometimes it's very deadening because the camera Works its way around the table and you're doing a sort of mid-shot and close-up but um the way we shoot at the cameras that the operators are so skilled and clever and they know the scenes as well as we do you know they're sort of picking bits off willy-nilly and it's thrilling I think yeah it's sort of like it does feel a lot like who mentioned the word coverage and I was like we don't really do coverage that's just not something to do you've just seen a bunch and they pick it up but yeah I'm sure you're right Matthew each scene like each of the scenes are very much written like little playlists I mean every you know if you think about the scene and the last the big scene on the on the boat you know the before the scene with Jeremy uh this scene born on the floor uh so many of the scenes had you know and also with the great my Lord at the helm at times you're very much shoots it in a sort of it's like you're doing a piece it's very much like you're doing a theater piece there's a kind of middle and beginning and an end to each scene and and they're brilliantly crafted I mean that is really down to the writers we've got to really be grateful and thankful to the writers for that because they never they they always keep people present and there's always and they've always got hundreds of alt lines for Kieran and also the process generally gives Primacy to to us the actor years um and so you know oftentimes on movies and television you have to sort of shoehorn yourself into the shape of a shot or or feel like you have to execute a certain thing I don't ever feel a pressure to execute anything or to achieve some kind of result on camera there's in a way that the sense of the scrutiny of the camera is completely absent and what that does at least for me is is frees you up from from this from the sense of you know making something at all and allows you to really enter into it and um you know in in a real moment-to-moment way and make these discoveries which is is harder to do if the process doesn't allow you to enter into a flow yeah I found I was saying the holiday and the Dundee when we're in Glasgow and we did do a formal setup we had like two cameras on a dolly both like we her side and we did my side separately and there was like coming towards us and that was the first time that I was like oh my gosh I can't act suddenly I'm on camera like everything became really obvious because we're so used to The Operators is like moving in and out of around us that they feel like they're in the scene as well like everything's a dance that uh yeah suddenly seeing a camera was so off-putting somehow yeah I I haven't done another job since this and I'm terrified to go back to doing like we're gonna do an over the shoulder I'm like I don't know what that means anymore I don't know what that is yeah like it's just terrifying to do another job but to also like Jeremy's Point too it's like you know I've worked on things where this is the story you have to make it fit in this little box and sometimes you can't but you just have to and the show it feels like if it doesn't work then we sort of do something else it becomes something else uh which is great and that is really just a testament to how great and how talented the writers are to to just go there's no ego either go ahead and the crew the crew also has kind of adapted to this too like the props Department I know kieran's had this a lot like they just sort of bring a bunch of options they're like I know you're going to want to touch one of these things in the room or you're gonna so they set you up to sort of have plenty of options of things to do and at whatever set you're in and then the camera guys like I remember in the Panic Room I don't know Matthew if you remember this but at one point I was like on the next take I I think I'm going to go under the desk I think I'm going to hide under the desk and one of our camera guys was like don't tell me like you don't need to tell me I want to just watch it as it happens if you do that I'm gonna find you if you don't you're good so just like I'm with you in this I want to track this like an audience is and I was like this is next level this is a whole different thing I love it you know I I think I think we really should say something about that because I do think we have been incredibly lucky with our camera operators and our DPS we really have I mean those guys and gals have been really incredible and they they got it so quickly and and they and you could tell they were liberated by it they were liberated in the same way that we were liberated absolutely they love it just as much as we do yeah it's a thrilling way to work yeah and and and and and and it sort has become it it really is the family the family is not just us but the family is also the crew yeah very much so they they really are part of the pulse of the whole thing and we couldn't do it we clearly couldn't do it without them and they're very smart they're very sharp and they're very liberated they'll they they do things and suddenly they they pick on a scene pick on a moment pick on a beat and it gets in there you know because we always do uh my Lord's famous freebie but also the crews get freebie as well the operators get freebies and so with all that like extraordinary freedom and Liberation that we have which is so valued I don't quite understand how the soundies are able to do what they do then because I've only done like maybe 10 or 15 lines of ADR over two seasons all the time I just think that's like that's insane because so many times usually you get like could you just make sure you don't go over that person's line so we can get it clean make sure you don't crank a load chip packet all that like I don't know what they're doing with them magicians like writing yeah Brian I I worked on a movie this fall with two of our camera operators who were who were you know uh who are on the movie for for most of it and who were completely straight jacketed and unable to work in a in a in a fluid way and and it really affected me as well because I you know uh uh because I also felt straightjacked and it made me really appreciate the container that we're in like if there's good work being done it's the writing but it's also whatever that Alchemy is that whatever the container is that we all get to yeah yeah it feels like the whole crew like everyone comes together to make the show because they kind of believe in it and Nick when you mention like props like there was a a scene Monica's done things where she sets props that she thinks I'm going to play with she has like and yeah Jay Jay there's a scene with you where I took the flower and I put it in my ear or whatever the hell it was and after the first take I went up to Monica I was like good luck resetting that [ __ ] she goes I knew you were gonna go for the flowers I bought a whole bunch that dinner with The Pierces that that thing was Monumental the every time they had a match every time and how many times did we do that it was a two-day event yeah uh covering that scene you know and talking all of us on the table at the same time like the scene coming down the other end of the table and we're talking at the like that's just insane to me I mean Brian the scene that you and I did in the yacht at the end before I leave I I'm sure you remember we so we started rehearsing it a little bit and then I had one of my you know whatever you want to call it and and asked if we could stop rehearsing it and just do it and we hadn't figured out the blocking and and and we were losing light the sun was going down so we so we found the scene on the vine and the camera you know the camera was they were crossing each other they didn't but but you know it felt in a way if we had uh well it was just very exciting that we were able to do that and that they're able to do to do this dance with us that's right Jeremy I think that we we did achieve such a level of trust by then because this was the 10th episode so that and that was what's so exciting and that was the thing that I mean I've done you know I've done a lot of television as as we all have but I'm never quite known it like this I've never quite known it as holistic as this has been that's a good work experience yeah you know I I've never quite known a lot I mean I've you know I've had great times I'm not dishing anybody but there's just something extraordinary about the whole shooting of our show which is so unique to itself and unique to everybody involved and everybody you know the Monica can anticipate that you know that the guys know that they can go there as opposed to there I mean they don't want to know as the guy said to you Nick I and don't tell me I'll find you you know that they were really tuned in a way and I just think it's I think it's astonishing and I do think it's because of the writing I do actually think it is because of the way the whole thing is struck we have this genius this sort of benign lovely funny Genie Jesse Armstrong who's there all the time on set usually with Tony or Lucy or something you know and it feels like they're just there it's just amazing I've never had that that's amazing you can go and they're just a brilliant resource and they're sort of encouraging and you know it's it's fantastic it's also the safety in knowing that if you you think you might be pushing something a little too far they have an eye like Jesse in particular like where the the buck stops with him if it's a little too silly there's one thing I probably can't talk about but there's one thing I was worried just too silly that we rehearsed we were going to shoot Jesse came on set and was like that's too much and it was like I could I completely trust his eye um totally all right More Alive are the script so you've talked about this a little bit and Brian was talking about at the beginning do you know anything that's going to happen to your characters episodes ahead and how do you play it if not there's I've had times when um you know unlike the first season and I asked Jesse it seemed not to track with what I thought for shiv which was does she want to be at way star does she want the top job and he was like I don't think so which totally threw me it was like the third it was like the second or third episode of the first season I was like wow what oh okay I have to really reconsider this character but then I just sort of was like well it doesn't matter if she changes her mind we as humans hide things from ourselves so well and deceptively sometimes that even us we don't know them until they until they happen until you sort of are presented with the opportunity to say yes that you didn't realize that you wanted that all along so for me it's like present moment is so exciting because of all the you know the trust that Jeremy was talking about before because also there's also we need to go there's also an our genius uh genius uh Creator uh a streak of capriciousness you know in a good sense I don't I don't I don't knock it I'm all for Caprice and the example being for Nine episodes I thought I was born in Quebec Canada hello hello and then finally on the ninth episode at the wedding Peter Friedman sits down and he says oh by the way I'm just on an ADR session oh yeah he said yeah they've changed your birthplace and I said what do you mean they've changed my birthplace he said yeah you're not born in Quebec anymore I said so where am I Born he said I can't remember he said he said hey you're born in somewhere called Dundee Scotland I said that's where I'm from but where did that come from and I when I went up to Jesse and I said what's going on what and he just and this is what he said we thought it'd be a little surprise I said surprise I mean you know for Nine episodes I did I didn't know any of that and of course my list the lesson I learned from that was it didn't really matter that I didn't know it actually didn't really matter that I didn't know it in fact it's none of my business whether I know or not my business is being in the moment you know right in the moment and not you know Jesse does this thing about like um I reserve the right to change my mind I think that's just like perfect because it means you can have the um belief in yourself and they can have the belief in you to just trust to make a decision and have an opinion but then it doesn't like if you're present and you're in the moment then it doesn't matter because you reserve the right to change your mind later that's right it takes you to like adjust but I had the the same thing of like what but I don't understand where where's the character going but now I love the fact that I can't track it's just whatever we're doing on that day sometimes I don't quite even know what the scene is until the morning of and it's like well that's just how it is I don't think you others have noticed but I I certainly have noticed that throughout the whole experience that the strengths of all of you have come to the fore and they've used that I've I I'm I'm so impressed of how the writers have used the strengths of each book you know there's not one of you that's not being developed in a particular way that is incredibly exciting and but it's also based on what you do you individually do and I think that's an extraordinary gift that they've got that they pick up on the individual act and they say I'm going to take it this way I'm going to take her that way and then of course we we love it because we go along with it you know because we're we love the sense of the immediate but I think I I I I I really do think that you know when you think of the first series and how it developed into the second series certainly there's been a kind of burgeoning of us as players but us in relationship to our characters and how our characters have developed for us in a way which I think is quite extraordinary actually I've never known that experience either before maybe some of us sort of hound Jesse more than others but I've certainly hounded him who is that which who who would that be who who's the founder I founded him because I can't just I I need to know I I need to know and so I've known for both seasons at least you know not not storyline for everyone but I you know so that you can thread the needle and build the thing because it yes the job is to be in the moment but I I for me at least I can't sort of simply do that and be a goldfish you know uh uh there has to be a con you have to construct something and when you know what the final beat of something is then you can reverse engineer it and set yourself at the furthest distance from it so you can travel that distance and and and and and so and I and I I I would find it very difficult I mean it would be interesting because you Brian you're probably right you may not need to know it's a different part I mean I just think that what's been created on our show is a whole different Paradigm and uh going in an organic way that I that is unknown um and I've at first I was very like you I'm you know I like to know what I'm doing and I was very kind of oh I don't I'm not sure about this but ultimately ultimately I found it freeing I found it freeing that I didn't know I wasn't we all need what we need everybody works in a different way and I think exactly Jesse is very accommodating in that way if you need to know something that he's going to help you out and if you're of an actor maybe with not knowing it's gonna let you be absolutely you're right yeah with the three of us like with like in terms of the three of us the four of us in terms of siblings yeah [Laughter] [Music] yeah wow wow because you're all in different spots in the Box yeah yeah sure yeah I'm over here in this one but we're all sort of like working different kinds of uh in different ways which I think is like that then helps our characters in the way that like the way that we are as actors together in the way that we are with um the way we relate to Jesse and you know like yes Jeremy needs more information about his character I feel like that works like the fact that I don't the fact that I know that Jeremy knows more about Kendall makes shiv go like do you know I think that's and I love that that's great like not knowing until the end what happened at the end of season two and then discovering I was like you know like I will never change change that fact I loved that experience and then knowing that you knew was like oh it's so delicious yes for me every other job has been that way and this job has just been freeing to give myself Jeremy what do you mean by goldfish you call it garretted goldfish you know being being observed in a bowl living in a glass bowl you know like you have to do the memory I thought it was just like I'm swimming around and he Jesse just give me treats and I'm like so you might well that goes back to that hungry I don't think you're a girl only four biscuits you're a thoroughbred and any thought given to to whom you might hand over the keys why Madam that is very forward and you're no fun we're all friends here now aren't we well um Jerry is on the paperwork as a stop job but even she'd be the first to admit that she couldn't really do the job well maybe the second to admit uh there is a name but you know I really don't like the deal in hypotheticals he's an enigma well one day what a tease folks just whisper it in my ear you know I'll start to think I'm not wanted yeah this you can well oh for [ __ ] sake dad just tell them it's gonna be me is that so that is so what's happening my life extended it's been disgusting um but I don't think we're quite at the point where uh no not anytime soon we've uh we've discussed the transition and some arrangements we will bore you no but I thought we could tell you all though as friends yeah you know maybe this dinner was a little bit premature seems like you guys are still working some things out no no Peter don't worry this is just uh family hijinks as as usual we're good it's touch will you stop well Sarah how did you feel when you learned that shiv would make that critical mistake of announcing her secret conversations with Logan uh I loved it like as Matthew was saying before it that you know those playlists those those scenes work visible plays and it's kind of great to then you know with the present moment plot and Arc for a scene that uh that if you don't know necessarily what's going to happen in the next couple episodes you do for that episode and then within the scenes they're so great at structuring a journey for all the characters at the table like we've got you know we had 15 people at that table and each of them have a reason to be there in a conversation to be having with with whomever and uh yeah I I love that because you know the cheer is also where like marketplaced me it's like this end of the table that's going on and then she can kind of dip into that over there um yeah I yeah it's it's and and with a great big like cat amongst the pigeons moment which also changed as we were as we were performing it as we were rehearsing and then and then as we did it it kind of wasn't working I guess and and and uh but I was working but like Jesse ended up going to this like situation going well what do you what would you want to say what what's the uh what's the first thing that comes to your mind like let's just simplify it was like a much more wordy thing that we'd written um that he'd written and then yeah we just simplify and simplified and turns into this sort of very short kind of word vomit and then the most I think the most terrified I've ever been on set in anything ever was when you Brian started dinging your glass in a take sort of stands up and everybody leaves and the same as written is over long before that but then what I love about the way that we shoot is like we'll play it out until the moment's done and then the edit they'll cut and they'll they'll change it and shape it but playing that to the moment's done what is going to happen when when Logan and ship are faced with each other and you digging that crystal glass is like just the death now I've never been so terrified I saw I saw a little bit of it the other night I was like wow my face is like that's I've Just Seen death come come with the side yeah it's it's a fun it was a funny scene that scene because it it's so naked and you suddenly it's like you take all your clothes off suddenly you know and I thought it's it's kind of shocking I always find it shocking that you did what you did and I thought is it in character is this what she does I mean is this who she is because it was such a surprise that suddenly in a forum where we don't know who the people are we're guests that she suddenly blows it so big it's such the look on your face the look on your face after she made her announcement was it all showed and he didn't say a word yeah well it was just shocking Mark comes in the edit Mark comes back to you so often in that scene just to get like you're always checking in in the way he's edited it you're always checking in with Logan like even if you don't think that he where his position is on the table could he genuinely hear hear that conversation you just get this little like shade of something as you go past it's brilliant so that when that does happen it's you all you want to do is see that see what Logan's reaction is to that moment yeah Alan there's a moment in the finale when um when Kendall is referred to I think by Jerry as uh the firstborn and then she corrects herself um yeah we just saw another little bit of that right with me thank you yes I'm sorry go ahead like is that something that you have in mind when you're playing Conor I you know I think for for uh uh his whole life he's been on the outside of the glass with his nose pressed against it looking in a bit you know and every now and then they say come in come in come in come in and uh many times they don't so I just think that's that's part of his truth that's part of his life that the old man left me and my mother when I was eight years old or so and then then he had the golden Trio and um that's how things are for our last clip we're going to show the final scene of season two the press conference with Kendall when he turns the tables on Logan my father is a malignant presence a bully and a liar and he was fully personally aware of these events for many years and made efforts to hide and cover up he had a twisted sense of loyalty to Bad actors like Lester McClintock disregard for the safety of Migrant workers non-union and union workers and for vulnerable performers and guests my father keeps a watchful eye over every inch of his whole empire and the notion that he would have allowed millions of dollars in settlements and compensation to be paid without his explicit approval is utterly fanciful I have with me today copies of records that show his personal sign off how much those of us who executed his wishes bear responsibility is for another day but I think this is the day his Reign ends [Music] and can answer any questions you may have in the coming days thank you very much [Music] if anything you say to the victims of these crimes did your father know you're making this statement today [Music] foreign [Music] let's break the scene down what was that like to play um daunting because not unlike season one the sort of whole uh architecture of the season hinged on for me hinged on um sort of a single scene or moment uh happening uh uh and and I I you know it was a bit of a contentious um episode for me in terms of the script and and and the reasons and you know what was the what is the what is the hammer and the firing pin that that reverses uh you know that that is the Catalyst for such a such a complete uh uh about face um but when Jesse and I sort of arrived at a mutual understanding about what those reasons were and and and and and uh and and doing the scene with Brian uh it it then felt inevitable um but the scene itself I remember the day actually I remember Sarah was there because she was sort of shadowing the director and and that made me very nervous and uh it was so great though it was like such a joy to watch and and you know it's one of those days honestly where you feel like you're supposed to be the quarterback and you're like you keep fumbling the ball for me is how I felt that day um because I expected the scene to be very uh kind of just in the pocket like we had a table read it felt quite simple um but it was not simple uh uh to do it turned out and we did many many many many many takes of it and I found myself sort of backsliding a bit I initially was thrown off by the microphones which had been set up without real sound um so I wasn't speaking into a microphone that was Amplified in the room and that took a bunch of takes to sort of fix it to make the environment feel real but it just turned on a Consciousness in my mind that I can't have on in my mind anyway um after a lot of takes I think there was one take where I put I paused after the word but which is in the middle of this speech and sort of the but pivot yeah and and and and that was sort of when it all that was the take where it sort of found itself for me like it felt like you know there's this Wallace Stevens poem where he says uh after the final no there comes a yes and on that yes the future world depends and it felt like it needed to be that magnitude of a moment for Kendall um and so that sort of rest after the butt and then the rest of it sort of took care of itself and I tore up a paper and that take and that's what that's what they ended up using and but it was not an easy that that was a that was like a uh you know I struggled with that scene it just goes to show as an actor you have no idea you know because it it it I think it works as a scene uh but you have no idea you know your own feelings are not often uh reliable gauge of anything um I would say it does work um uh Brian what is Logan thinking when he has that little half smile in the final shot of the season well I can't really tell you that um because yeah you can no I can't it's a secret while you're at it tell us about season three yeah yeah I can't tell you about that no the interesting thing is there are several there are several there are several things that added to that smile there's Pride there's audacity there's surprise there's uh uh respect there's uh devilishness I mean there's so many elements to that you know there's so many elements to what that smile means and also the fact that in the previous scene you know the key thing is when he asks uh do I you know can I is there any way I can run the business can I do it and he says Logan says honestly he doesn't know and he doesn't know he's a killer and of course what he proves to be in that scene is a killer a little bit uh Robert Ford shooting Jesse James but a killer nevertheless you know uh so it's and it's a kind of you know it's just they they talked about it and it's the Mona Lisa smile you know so in a way there is it's open to so many interpretations as it should be yeah what you're allowing it's such a it's such a beautifully subtle thing you're doing you're allowing you know everyone to project whatever they want exactly and that's what you've got to do you know you can't you know you you can't put what you because it's too simple it's too it's some it's simplistic if you kind of go well I'm what I'm doing is this and I'm doing that because I made him do this and I wanted them to do that it isn't that that certainly you can put it into the mix but there's more going on much more going on and there's the history of there's a lot of histories involved there's the there's the dramatic history there's also the history of us having have done two extraordinary seasons of that show and it culminating and that having done a similar episode not quite the same but when Jeremy accidentally kills the boy or he's he doesn't kill the boy but the boy is killed in that accident and then we I I I take him under my wing as it were and become very protective of him as I am for quite a lot of season two and then at the same time knowing that he kind of having this gut feeling that he will be sacrificed I don't know when but where and how but I've got this feeling so it's it's it's fascinating it's absolutely fascinating I mean the work is fascinating the scripts are fascinating and they the the the just the kind of the sense of Ensemble as Matthew talked about earlier the sense of all of us this group which is a a great group truly truly extraordinary group and it's such a talented group so that you're you're in totally safe yet dangerous hands hey what do you think that Jerry wants from the family I don't know I feel like I feel like she's just always um gotten sort of addicted to like just staying on her feet there like it's like she enjoys the strategy strategizing of staying afloat um I think she's probably more ambitious than than she makes out that she is so I mean I feel like this past season once Jerry's name was on as the surrogate you know possible uh you know the fallback person yeah uh she she fell out of paper with Logan like he like he just didn't like me as much because I was somehow like in the light of succession and that made me laugh because I felt like it was much more his right hand man in season one and again at least the beginning of season two I was in the doghouse relatively so I feel like I don't know I feel like she's gotten sort of addicted to like she was you know a workaholic and she's gotten kind of addicted to jocking for her position there um I don't know I think she but at the same time feel like she keeps it a little distance from I mean I think she has her opinions about the Roy's like she's there's definitely a psychological distance there if that makes any sense why um do you guys have any sense of when you might film the third season is not doing anything Brian knows everything apparently yeah right I've had my wrist slap because I I said something about you know we don't know when it's going to happen it could be blah it could be blah and when I did that they edited it as if I was saying it's blah they did that on an interview so I'm very wary of that situation I got very firmly wrapped across the knuckles by HBO but I didn't actually what I said was well it could be October but it you know it's unlikely and when it would be it'll be when it's safe to be you know and when they've sorted out I mean they've gotta they're all working now I mean they're having the ads there's an ad Association who at the moment is looking into what we could do how we could get back to program making and clearly there are certain areas that we could go to where we could film uh New York probably isn't particularly safe at the moment and who knows where New York will be saved um and unfortunately that's where the hubbaba stuff is but of course we do do a lot of traveling and you know so there will be elements of how that's going to be curtailed and that's got to be changed within the terms of the writing so there's a lot elements of that that's got to be dealt with so we have a brilliant brilliant exact uh line producer called Scott Ferguson and he's been working on it daily I know that because I'm in constant touch with him he's working on it daily to try and see what the best situation is visit the our cruise and keeping together and being safe the first thing is we have to be safe uh we have to be safe we have to be tested we have to be well before we begin to even think about it so it's very very hard to say uh and it also depends on the behavior of the the country depends on the behavior of what's going on you know where people are you know people are they've reached a point where the the novelty of it got exhausted and so they wanted to oh let's go out let's all go to Parks now it's happening in London you know it's happening in New York it's happening and it's still not a good time to be doing any of that we really have to be careful but people are you know human beings they are a little disappointing sometimes so I think I think I think the good news about HBO is and this is just my sense of it is that they're never going to put pressure uh they're not gonna do anything that will compromise the show Absolutely so Jess is going to write the season as he wishes and then they will calibrate to in order to realize whatever his vision is for season three and and I think the timing of that and and where he decides to set everything uh the rest will follow the scripts but the scripts remain King and they're not going to do any sort of watered-down version of the show in order to get it back into back on track you know for a deadline I think which would which so so the good news is we our home is is somewhere that will protect I think the Integrity of the show um for my final question uh if everyone could just say their favorite line that they got to say in season two um uh oh I got I got I can't think of them I I got two but neither of them aired oh okay um one is my favorite piece of written dialogue I think I've ever been given and it was uh it was something and I'm gonna now I don't even fully remember it was like Roman makes fun of Frank and then I have to say no I'm kidding Frank we missed all it was like written as we missed all your wonderful blah blah and all of your and then it says makes noises [Music] like just whatever and then my favorite alt line they gave me which also didn't get used was um and the first episode of the second season Willa gets to contribute as she's like I think cell seems cool and they gave me like 12 different lines to say so I got to do a different one each time and one was I said um oh I didn't realize we were taking contributions from the floor why don't we call the guy who waxes my balls and see what he thinks and I remember the moment I finished that I looked at you Matthew and you just went right [Laughter] right yeah those are mine who else don't make me call on people I have one you go you have one um this was a good one because it felt like what Brian was saying earlier like the writers were really starting to understand me but we've never talked about this um and it's in the season finale the line that goes but you know I get on the yacht and I go can I keep my shoes on because uh what if my toenails are not all that aesthetically pleasing and I have gnarly toenails on my two big toes and I I went up to Jesse and then I was like did I tell you about my toes because I had one of my toenails like ripped off a few years ago because I had a problem with it and they were like no but it was just a perfect understanding that of course I have some weird ass toenails then they've got an insert on them and I think thank God that didn't make the cut the internet you've spoken about that like three or four days earlier so when we read and when I read the script I was like oh Nick must have told them that's weird then he told them was yeah yeah I remember that there are so many like things that the writers put that must be like some version of an insult where they wrote about Conor they were like in reference to Connor they said oh is he the one with the face who said who said that who said that I can't remember I can't remember what it doesn't matter but it was season one they were like oh is this your brother the one with the face was that uh when we were in New Mexico yeah yeah when when uh Kendall was in the bar yeah I think it goes with those guys I can't remember that what does that even mean I don't know man it means this I have one uh um uh in Connor's uh little YouTube video to plant the seeds of his uh presidential uh platform uh he says ding dong who's there Uncle Sam and where's his hand in my pants where the money is and that that that's kind of risk that's uh that's right in my wheelhouse [Laughter] Matthew do you have a a Tom Tomlin it's very vulgar IA it was just a very short line to um Jay and David we were outside and I had to say they're trying to persuade me to go and talk to Logan and I'm scared and I say I'm trying to get out of it and I say well he he did once call me the [ __ ] of Monte Cristo hilarious but really there are too many to mention that's the thing Jeremy do you remember like Matthew uh stop angsting you know you're anything what did I say man I'm trying to remember but I we couldn't I I couldn't say it to you without cracking up we were just you know that's the joy of it I especially like it when Matthew goes you just I go very rare yeah [Laughter] I don't have like a favorite a favorite like fun line uh but I guess the line that was sort of like the ballast of the whole thing for me in a way was when Sarah and I have that scene in the office in in in the episode where she's come into the office and I'm up on the ledge on the roof a lot uh and I say I I don't know what the exact line was but like it it won't be me um because yeah just because it contained everything about the season for me um I believed it to be true and at that time I believed that I would be make a sacrifice of myself but then but the way in which what is embedded within that what what ultimately happens I remember reading that line and being really floored floored by it and then when you said it Matthew was in the corner breaking yeah he breaks easily I think that sometimes but yeah it's delicious when he goes Sarah do you have one hey we just really think that the that that what shiv says um at the table she's such a um at the table at the in episode 10 season two to you Matthew where she's like when she's sort of what throws you under the bus that doing that little exchange between us in amongst like such a private little spat in such a public setting I love but my actually it's such a this like this line is not mine but I loved every time Matthew said this was the king of edible leaves this oh his majesty the king of edibles it's fantastic yeah just like encapsulates Tom for me like such an or it's a silence beforehand and so awkward and then you go ah the King of edibles foreign s but I can only remember the rude ones I can only remember the ones uh this is not like uh it can be rude I'm not waxing my balls so we're you're okay all right yeah well that moment mines is similar which is what you're going to do next stick his [ __ ] in my potato salad [Music] oh no my in the potato salad that was the line that ended up getting cut that I loved saying was the um with the like I don't know how do you think he responded and she got to say I don't know I've never seen the chicken power play before yeah there was one that was cut where where we talked about I was just really surprised by the line they gave you snuck where it was like oh yeah like that time and we all got food poisoning where were we where were we supposedly getting food poisoning in Italy and you went oh yeah shitaly and I loved it I don't know if you've said that or if they gave it to you really I just it just surprised me um we'll end on shittily um um thank you all so much this was wonderful um you were amazing and I this was terrific thank you so much you're welcome thank you thank you guys good to see you guys someone James Sarah Keanu yeah [Laughter]

Channel: Variety

Views: 442,183

Keywords: Variety, Variety Studio, Brian Cox, Succession HBO, succession theme song, succession season 2 finale, brian cox succession interview, Brian Cox Succession, Succession Cast, succession cast interview, succession cast interview season 2

Id: g7xYYPaRh3Y

Length: 77min 54sec (4674 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 13 2020