On location with the cast ofSuccession, the most interestingly terrible billionaires on TV.
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You are cordially invited to a Roy-family gathering at a 13-bedroom 17th-century Tuscan villa.
It sits in the middle of a garden lined with shrubs and dotted with Baroque sculptures.
This detail Im maybe making up because Im simply not rich enough to know.
Were in Siena for the first half, driving the 30 minutes from the city to Sovicille.
The following week, well travel throughout the Val dOrcia region, with shoots in Pienza and Cortona.
(You quickly realize youre taking long car rides from one tiny town with great cheese to another.)
Today begins as most do at this location horrificallyMidsommar-ly, in full-sun 95-degree weather.
Their attention is directed toSarah Snook, in character asShiv Roy.
Along with the wordstotallyandunprepared.
1 boy turned whistleblower).
Snook tries delivering her line a few different ways: The staccatoShit!
Fuck no, bitch!
Maybe the heat is making her forget what to say next.
Shes sweating through her taut off-white dress.
When the sequence resets, the actors do too.
Culkins bangs are coiffed and pulled back just so.
Smith-Cameron hides from the sun under an umbrella thats discarded once the camera starts rolling.
shouts the first assistant director.
A chorus ofMoooovimento!echoes his call.
Strong hangs his head, heavy with the state of his characters perma-despair.
Yeah, right, Culkin says, sighing.
Somebody wrote, Successionfinally found itself in episode three, says web link chief Casey Bloys.
The idea that a show found itself in the third episode is somewhat ridiculous.
The tone was there, the talent was there, the acting was there.
Armstrong doesnt seem as pressed.
I was aware that its quite a prickly pear of a show, he says, laughing.
The Roy family fights, fusses, backstabs, and stumbles over its own emotions.
The fact that they have money like alotof money,too muchmoney,casitamoney only adds to the spectacle.
(It will now arrive in October.)
Armstrong decided early on that the seasons finished scripts wouldnt be rewritten to incorporate the ongoing pandemic.
These are really wealthy people, says Snook.
And unfortunately, none of the worlds really wealthy people were going to be affected by the pandemic.
Two regulars Ruck and Cox also contracted the virus.
There was a lot of hurry up and wait; the goalposts for restarting production kept moving.
After Zoom table reads and Zoom production meetings, shooting started in New York this past November.
Italy, by summers end, was always the plan.
Thelast time we saw the Roy family, Kendall committed patricide via press conference.
This is the day his reign ends.
But then it became kind of obvious that that would be a dumb move, dramatically.
The third season picks up moments after the last.
When the season resumes, Kendall fancies himself the leading man of some kind of resistance.
ButSuccessions terms and conditions are that no one really changes.
I dont think thats impossible, but Im suspicious of that shape to peoples lives.
Its hard to change in a fundamental way.
A week later,Culkin sits under a pergola shaded with wisteria, drinking an Italian soda.
Hes wearing a white Hanes T-shirt and shorts he fished out from the bottom of a drawer.
Then I dont because its probably expensive and I dont have a production paying for it.
Take after take, the word comes out every way but its actual pronunciation.
Tonights shoot is in Cortona, and Culkins call time isnt until 11 p.m.
Were in the backyard; his small familys row of Stan Smith sneakers sits next to the front door.
When we finished last season, my wife was pregnant, he says.
Now I have an almost-2-year-old.
Shes due in five-to-six weeks, but the baby is probably coming sooner, Culkin continues.
Ive gotta get us home or were having an Italian baby!
Shooting in New York during the winter and spring was tricky.
At the beginning of the season, it was mask, shield, Culkin says.
We had these pods think individual tents for actors to use between takes that we didnt use.
Maybe it helps that its summer and theres a pool andplates of bucatini everywhere.
Its always different when we travel because it feels immediately like summer camp, Culkin says.
The actors break off into their cliques during the weekends or plan solo excursions.
Smith-Cameron has brought her husband, the writer-director Kenneth Lonergan, along.
One afternoon, I see him waiting for her outside a gelateria.
They couldnt get a work visa, she says.
And I dont know how interested they were in that.
Ive got nothing to do all day, he tells me one afternoon.
Ill go and do my gym.
Where Logan growls and roars, Cox is lightly sarcastic.
After Ive asked all my questions, he jokes that he wants some more.
(He has a memoir coming out this fall, and hes keen to promote it.)
Abroad, theres more time for impromptu hangs.
They kicked us out of it one time because we were laughing and yelling too loud, Braun says.
He feels freer abroad than he does at home.
Were basically anonymous here, Braun tells me, fiddling with the gold chain around his wrist.
He says it doesnt frustrate him when fans project Greg onto him.
Its not a bad thing when people yell Greg the Egg on the street, he says.
But his tone changes when he talks about it; it seems a little tiring.
Its nice to get dinners with Matthew and Jeremy, he says.
Strong is like the shows concierge.
Hes in contact with chefs and hoteliers.
Like, its crazy.
Everyone seems to get along.
It was the most delicious dinner Ive had yet in Italy, he says.
Carbonara but it had caramelized red onions in it.
Some Pecorino but nottoomuch.
Theyre watching the tournament from the country that England will eventually lose to.
Armstrong prefers to stay at the periphery of the nights out and downtime hangs with the actors.
I genuinely like all the actors.
But its probably not good for us to be in each others pockets the whole time.
Not that you cant have a professional relationship with friends, Armstrong continues.
But I ask them to do a lot, emotionally and creatively.
The teaserforseason three is releasedwhile were in Cortona.
Armstrong describes watching the reaction as a weird hall of mirrors.
Fans find characters to root for, but he pushes against that experience of the show.
Armstrong says hes not conscious of writing against what viewers expect.
Both undermine the premise of catching the privileged out of their element.
So much of the shows appeal is predicated on feeling as if were overhearing things we shouldnt hear.
The red herrings fans predict are tooGame of Thronesy, too complicated.
They often have very Machiavellian theories about how someones going to triple-cross someone else, Roche says.
People often think we are being cleverer than we are.
On another, they rule that Shivs lines need to be de-fucked.
Something I have learned in my career, Armstrong says, is there will always be another idea.
Once you go where the emotion wants to go, theres always another joke.
Setting the third seasons final two episodes in Tuscany is its own joke.
Some call it Chiantishire in a slightly sickening way.
Ive got to leave early; Im doing an anniversary dinner up the road, she says between setups.
You have to see what my client wore for dinner the other night.
Weve come toPienzas La Terrazza Del Chiostro, a restaurant overlooking the rolling Tuscan hills.
Today its the setting for a Roy-sibling lunch that predictably devolves into an argument.
The actors all have their own methods of getting into character.
Culkin doesnt want to know anything Roman wouldnt so he can go with his first instinct.
He just gets the scenes; he doesnt know whats going on.
He knows he cant tell anyone!
(She had him sign an NDA template she found online.)
She has been working much harder than myself.
It felt like Im doing an impersonation of a person who plays Shiv who turns out to be me.
I was like,Wait,Imthe person.Iknow.
Strong wants to talk through every moment of Kendalls inner life.
(Armstrong suggests he try surprise.)
During the first week at the villa, hell frequently sit by himself in a garden near the pool.
We talk in the lounge of his hotel in Pienza the afternoon after the lunch scene wraps.
Hes in shorts and a T-shirt from the trendy Williamsburg pizza place Leo.
Are they the same?
This is my necklace, he clarifies.
That was my other necklace.
But the necklace is the same, yeah.
Theyre his, theyre Kendalls, theyre hisandKendalls.
Strong reads voraciously before the show resumes each season to get more into character.
The essay collection, published in 1945, is about the authors fame, addictions, and breakdowns.
Kendall has defied his father and fashioned himself as a victor.
But now hes left feeling like a loose live wire.
Theres this almost sense ofNow what?
Strong considers the comparison.
I dont know that thats untrue of myself in some ways, too, he says.
I dont think hes a masochist, but he seeks out a kind of difficulty.
I often find myself, when Im doing this, in a pretty anguished place.
Take being in Tuscany.
Instead, Im trying to see it like the Marcy stop on the J/M/Z, he continues.
Weve been here a million times.
He asks if Ive read aRolling Stonearticlepublished last summer about terminal decadence.
How does he square that with keeping his distance?
He shifts in his seat.
No, listen, I mean …
He insists, ultimately, that its different.
During production, he prefers keeping himself and by extension, Kendall in the straitjacket of detachment.
He thinks it helps.
Armstrong likes playing to the actors natural strengths; the actors feel the glow of his observation.
Others seem keyed into parallels too.
Sometimes Greg is kooky; Nick Braun is kooky.
Braun is perhaps trying to push past that read of his character.
During one scene at Cetinale, Greg is positioned between two women hes trying to yo in opposing ways.
The actor audibly groans, as if hes embarrassed that he tried the joke.
I ask him about it a few days later.
Sometimes, when they leave the camera rolling, I just let stuff come out, he says.
He played with the idea throughout the day.
Greg, the fan-favorite outsider, has been embedded with the Roys for three years now.
What effect have they had on him?
Sometimes youve got to go too far to know.
Culkin is the only actor to add substantial improvs his perfectly pitched Really?
or Fuck off that can be the highlight of a tightly scripted scene.
Except its me, he says.
So its not that funny.
I just cant shut up.
The Romanness is hard to turn off.
If its been a big day, Im kind of antsy.
Im talking really fast.
If Im out with people, its still okay.
Its a nice segue, Culkin continues.
But sometimes, when I come home, my wife is tired.
Shes like, Im trying to watchBobs Burgersand go to sleep.
Successionseesfamily as a pressure cooker; a big set piece is where some of those pressures explode.
Shivs season-one weddingended witha waiter in a body bag.
The gathering at Cetinale only looks like an immaculately groomed detente.
You kids, you cook up nothing into something, Marcia coolly reassures Shiv later in the afternoon.
Armstrong likes that line.
Is Shiv right to worry?
Is Marcia assuaging her or putting her off the scent of a scheme?
Shes saying, Oh, you kids dont need to worry, says Armstrong.
Youre cooking something up which doesnt need to be cooked up.
But this isSuccessioneveryoneshould worry.
Its nearing nightfall on the last day of the Cetinale shoot, and its finally cooling down.
The camera is on Macfadyen, standing at the edge of the commotion and taking a phone call.
His face cycles through shock, confusion, dismay, and then … greed?
Macfadyen can modulate his performance by degrees.
Lets do 10 percent more surprised, Mylod asks, and the actor delivers.
When youve got good writing, it is [that easy].
If you overcomplicate things, you get scared and stuck.
You think,Whats the answer?Nobody knows the answer.
Macfadyen and Braun have an intimate conversation together next.
The setup is the last of the night, and its Brauns final day on set.
They initiate the sequence a few times, growing increasingly loose and silly as the night goes on.
Tom is married to Shiv, but Greg is his real partner on the show.
This scene is becoming just about those waiters, Armstrong muses.
He does a little Tuscan dougie.
Mylod announces the day is wrapped, and Macfadyen charges into the center of the crowd to embrace Braun.
Next week, the setups will be more intimate, with lengthy, dense scenes between pairs.
Dads on the call sheet, and hes scheming, as usual.
Its a game for him, Cox tells me.
And in a way, the kids never understand it is a game.
Theyve always taken it too seriously.
Its maybe a game for the actor, too.
He is beginning to feel the strain of filming.
He tried to turn the time in Italy into a vacation, but he was hot and fussy.
Tomorrow night, he has a nine-page scene to shoot.
Im a little bit tired of it all, he says, waving his hand at the Tuscan countryside.
Ive loved it, but its just gone on a bit too long.
Im dying for a change of view.
Just to see something other than these … cypress trees all over the place.
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