Daniel Day-Lewis would like to be excluded from Brian Cox‘s fiery narrative against Method acting.
The Succession star has previously invoked Day-Lewis’ name while thrashing the acting technique used by his former fictional son Jeremy Strong, saying that Strong’s Emmy-winning style is an example why the technique is so “f—ing annoying.”
“Listen, I worked with Brian Cox once and got somehow drawn into this handbags-at-dawn conflict inadvertently,” Day-Lewis recently told Big Issue. “Brian is a very fine actor who’s done extraordinary work. As a result, he’s been given a soapbox… which he shows no sign of climbing down from. Any time he wants to talk about it, I’m easy to find.”
The legendary actor, who counts three Oscars, two Golden Globes, and four BAFTA awards to his name, also addressed Cox’s allusion that Strong learned his technique while working as his assistant. “If I thought during our work together I’d interfered with his working process, I’d be appalled. But I don’t think it was like that. So I don’t know where the f— that came from,” Day-Lewis noted. “Jeremy Strong is a very fine actor, I don’t know how he goes about things, but I don’t feel responsible in any way for that.”
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Daniel Day-Lewis in 2025
Day-Lewis has long-defended his use of Method acting, telling Big Issue he doesn’t like it being “misrepresented to the extent it has been.”
He added, “I can’t think of a single commentator who’s gobbed off about the Method that has any understanding of how it works and the intention behind it. They focus on, ‘Oh, he lived in a jail cell for six months’ (for In the Name of the Father). Those are the least important details… So it pisses me off this whole ‘oh, he went full Method’ thing. What the f—, you know? Because it’s invariably attached to the idea of some kind of lunacy.”
Day-Lewis retorted that he chooses “to stay and splash around, rather than jump in and out or play practical jokes with whoopee cushions between takes or whatever people think is how you should behave as an actor.”
Representatives for Cox did not respond immediately when Entertainment Weekly reached out for comment.
Cox previously voiced his concerns about Strong’s all-or-nothing approach while visiting Late Night With Seth Meyers in December 2021. “I worry about what it does to him,” he said at the time. “Because you’re dealing with all of this material every day. You can’t live in it. Eventually, you get worn out.”
In response to Cox’s vocal concern, Strong told GQ in a March 2023 profile that “everyone’s entitled to have their feelings.”
He continued, “Brian Cox, for example, he’s earned the right to say whatever the f— he wants. There was no need to address that or do damage control. I feel a lot of love for my siblings and my father on the show. And it is like a family in the sense that, and I’m sure they would say this, too, you don’t always like the people that you love. I do always respect them.”
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In general, Strong noted that he prefers to isolate from his fellow costars so that he doesn’t get too casual on set. “It’d be one thing if I was working on Friends or something,” he explained. “I worked on a Guy Ritchie movie, and I approached that very differently.”
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