Jeremy Strong is now an Oscar nominee. He earned the first Oscar nomination of his career for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Apprentice. Kieran Culkin is the favourite in that category and this has been one of the internet’s favourite Oscar storylines – the Brothers Roy going head-to-head and they might actually be more different in real life than they were as their characters in Succession. But also the same as their characters in Succession in terms of how Roman and Kendall were presented as individuals and as siblings.
While it’s probably unlikely that Jeremy will put out a win over Kieran, though, I feel confident in predicting this: his victory will come on the red carpet. Jeremy Strong has long showed us his style game at award shows but last month at the Golden Globes, in that mint green velvet Loro Piana suit, with the matching bucket hat, he set a new standard for himself and for everyone else trying to claim the best dressed crown.
We all agree on this, right? Jeremy Strong won the night. Because if you only remember one look from the Globes, it’s this one.
Did he mean for it to be the comedy that it became? Unclear.
Was this a new lane for him? Definitely not. Jeremy’s never been known as a black boring tux kind of guy. And a big part of that is because, well, as we’re all well aware of by now, he is intense AF. Earnest AF. Jeremy Strong cares about everything – his roles, his clothes, and his coffee, LOL.
He talks about the Dunkin’ Super Bowl performance in Ben Affleck’s latest commercial – which I posted about in the previous post to this one here – in the new issue of GQ Hype, just released today. Here’s the thing about his performance in that ad: he was both taking the piss out of it, but also taking it so SERIOUSLY. Like, somehow something that started out as irreverent became sincere, LOOOOLLLL.
He actually researched the part. And ensured that his dialogue was “authentic” to, like, the 1800s or whatever.
“That was both a joke and taking the piss, but also true. Ben [Affleck] had reached out to me, they wanted me to come out wearing a tracksuit like the rest of them and do a rap like I had done on Succession. And I said no. And then I sat with it, came up with a bunch of ideas, some bad, unfunny ideas. And then I was thinking about Apocalypse Now and Martin Sheen coming out of the mud. And for a while it was like, Maybe I'm steeping in tea, something to do with the Boston Tea Party? And then I had a memory of—it's all so silly, but I had so much fun, which is not something I really do—when I was a kid, my dad used to go up to the drive-through, or to a Dunkin' Donuts in a town I lived in, Sudbury [Massachusetts], and would send me inside to get coffee. One cream, two sugars. Before I knew what coffee was or what any of that meant. And so then, out of somewhere, I thought about Paul Revere’s “One if by land, two if by sea.” I came up with all this batshit stuff. I started researching British town crier competitions, which, if you go on YouTube, is an amazing world to go into. Because I was like, I can't do a rap, because why would I do a rap? But let's just play it real and let me be this difficult actor who was bizarrely committed to doing this commercial.”
So, to go back to the fashion of it, his green velvet suit wasn’t just a stunt, no no never – Jeremy was dedicating himself to the moment, the art, the craft. In his way he was honouring fashion and those who make it. Loro Piana, probably THE stealth wealth brand for the richest, is stealthily taking over the carpet. And through Jeremy they just found a way to maintain luxury while brashly announcing their intention to usurp space in territory where they’re not usually mentioned. This, make no mistake, was a flex for him.
Which is why we should 100% be waiting on his arrival on Oscar night. High, high, high up on the list.
We're Squawking about Jeremy today. Join us! (App link here)
