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In this weeks episode ofSuccession,Nicholas Braun plays chicken.
Lets fight like chickens, he caws, punching Greg in the arm.
But Toms rebuffed, a first for Brauns character, whos slowly growing into his suit this season.
Greg the Egg has hatched.
We spoke with Braun about deleted takes, romantic prospects, tackling Matthew Macfadyen, and Gregs special watch.
Greg is torn between two sides this season.
The scenario is really high stakes.
But also there are these totally unrelated things, like a friendship with Kendall is great.
Maybe aligning with him is right morally.
He knows he does have leverage.
Hes worth a lot if Logan can swing him that removes another thing Kendall claims as his own.
I think the decision gets made for him when the power of Logan presents itself.
How many ways did you play that scene?
Hes always trying to do the right thing, so a lot of it comes out of that.
And Im going to chug that.
So youre saying the chugging did stay?
When were filming, its very free and you see whatever works.
We shoot enough takes that we always get these freebie takes that are kind of anomalous.
Different times … better times?
Its funny, and it kind of echoes Kendalls fuck the patriarchy moment cringe wokeness attempts from theseUber-privileged boys.
Do you think Greg still has more of a moral compass compared to the rest of the Roys?
Or has he become just as self-(pre)serving?I think he does.
He doesnt live in the total insulation of the rest of these guys.
But Greg might be saying these things with actual, real feeling behind it.
At least thats how I feel.
I think he does have some empathy.
As a viewer, Im guarding myself.
His earnestness and his morals are getting chipped away.
Theyre not serving him so well.
If you want to hang around, you have to harden a bit more.
Hes been put through enough shit that hes less puppy-doggish.
You and Tom have one of the most interesting dynamics on any show.
Can you walk me through filming that scene?We were locked in immediately, Matthew and I.
We did the rehearsal and we found the blocking that felt like it made sense.
All those little micro-blocking moves set up the blueprint for the scene to work.
Matthew and I know this relationship, and we know how to execute this writing.
We tried to bring all the context the relationship has into that scene.
Its really layered at this point.
When he says hed castrate you and make you his wife, shits getting psychosexual.
I think Greg gains a little more respect from him, which scares Tom.
He needs Greg as the one thats way below him, who will never get to his level.
The threat of that is very real for him.
I dont think it can getmoretense or more unhealthy of a relationship than it already has.
And Greg has someone he can share certain things with.
Theres a lot of good underneath all this weird energy.
That was fun, trying to move Matthews big body.
That was the most athletic thing Ive done in a long time.
In that scene, Greg says he wants to work in parks.
Its a suffering division of the company.
Maybe Greg wants to make it less shitty.
He asks for ideas, like What can we improve in parks and cruises?
I think it was the season-one spitball session where hes like, Okay, whos got an idea?
And I was like, Uhhhh, maybe worlds biggest petting zoo?
Like a huge, massive petting zoo?
And hes like, Thats a fucking terrible idea and uses me to be a punching bag.
But yeah, Greg needs to do some improving in Buffalo Waystar.
Your character has always been the punching bag.
In real life, your portrayal of that character has made you extremely not that.
There are girls posted up at Rays trying to meet you all over my TikTok feed.I cant really comment.
Its just a crazy thing.
There are fancams for it.
Like, their Twitter names become character names from the show, and they make the fancams.
You know, they cut a trailer where Tom and Greg are in a romantic comedy.
I dont know if youve seen that one, but thats a good re-envisioning.
These people are really impressive, and I guess it shows their dedication to these characters.
The moment something happens on Sunday night, its already on the internet being commented on.
Its very 2021, I guess.
Dasha Nekrasova fromRed Scareshares a lot of scenes with you this season.
It feels like this Lower East Side meta crossover event.
And shes just awesome everyone really enjoyed having her on the show.
Shes very much her own energy.
It should be really fun for the audience.
Im not gonna say anything about a relationship.
But I did buy my own watch recently.
So now Im even closer to Greg than I was before.
Thats Gregception.Hes taking me over.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
