Michelle Williams Defends Jeremy Strong Against Method Acting Backlash: ‘He Takes His Work Seriously’

variety.com:

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaMichelle Williams is speaking out in defense of her friend Jeremy Strong after the “Succession” star was the subject of a New Yorker profile that examined his intense approach to acting.

That piece, which was published in December, documented the extremes that Strong was willing to take in order to create his performances, including asking to be tear-gassed for a scene in “Trial of the Chicago 7.”The blowback to the story was intense — both from supporters of the actor, who claimed it misrepresented his commitment to his craft, as well as from detractors who believed it was an example of Method acting taken to self-indulgent extremes.

For Williams, the portrait painted by the New Yorker didn’t capture Strong’s talent or his generous spirit. “I think that unfortunately the word ‘method’ has become a buzzy one because of what happened to Jeremy Strong when he tried to describe his process,” Williams says. “He takes his work as seriously as he takes his play.”After Williams’ former partner Heath Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in 2008, Strong, another friend and the actress’s sister and her boyfriend all moved into her Brooklyn home.

There, Strong played an important role in helping Williams and Ledger’s daughter Matilda cope with the tragedy.“Jeremy was serious enough to hold the weight of a child’s broken heart and sensitive enough to understand how to approach [her] through play and games and silliness,” Williams says.The New Yorker profile made a point of noting that before Strong had made it as an actor and was struggling financially he nevertheless had a”…closet of incongruously high-end clothes; he had a Dries Van Noten suit and a Costume National.