Jeremy Strong's Hilarious Dunkin' Donuts Super Bowl Stunt

The Affleck boys are link up with a noted Method actor in the name of donuts and coffee. A new teaser for the coffee chain (formerly known as Dunkin' Donuts) aired during the 2025 Grammy Awards, with Ben Affleck reprising his role as the “DunKing.” This regal title was first bestowed during the 2024 Super Bowl, when Affleck and Matt Damon rocked orange tracksuits in front of a confused Jennifer Lopez. A lot has changed since last year.

In Dunkin’s teaser leading up to the 2025 Super Bowl, Ben is joined by his brother, fellow actor Casey Affleck, as they check on Succession alum Jeremy Strong in his dressing room. “He’s preparing, he’s doing his research,” Casey points out, a nod that comedically plays on Strong’s reputation as a method actor.

Strong's Method Acting Approach to the Dunkin' Commercial

Strong soon emerges from a Dunkin' vat covered in coffee beans, reminiscent of Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen in Dune. “We’re doing a Dunkin' Donuts commercial right?” Strong asks. “I’m just trying to find the character. I think I found a way in. You’re from Boston. I’m from Boston. Dunkin' is Boston. Boston is Paul Revere. One if by land, two if by sea. The Redcoats are coming.”

It’s hard to believe that Strong would appear in a Dunkin' ad, but sometimes, the strangest cameos are the best. While he has a very different energy than Ice Spice or Sabrina Carpenter, it’s also a fun concept to imagine what his sponsored coffee drink would look like, if he gets one—all while catering to different areas within a younger demographic.

The Making of DunKings 2: The Movie

The Dunkin' Super Bowl ad actually turned out to be a short film titled DunKings 2: The Movie, with Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, and Jeremy Strong also joined by Bill Belichick (and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson) and comedian Druski. This unexpected collaboration blended humor and celebrity cameos to create a memorable Super Bowl moment.

“I wanted to poke fun at this idea of me as this sententious, self-serious actor,” Strong said in an interview about the ad with Variety. “It was my response to the idea that I ‘don’t get the joke.’”

Strong clarified that in the original concept of the ad, he was asked to perform a rap in a tracksuit, similar to Kendall’s infamous rap in Succession. “I said no,” he said. “I wasn’t interested in rehashing something I’d done before. I want to put distance between myself and that show and achieve escape velocity.” And so, eventually, the concept changed to the lampooning of himself and his own famous acting process. This creative shift allowed Strong to showcase his comedic talent and distance himself from his Succession character.

Jeremy Strong's Career Before Dunkin'

Strong gained popularity as Kendall Roy, the failson of media mogul Logan Roy (played by Brian Cox), on HBO’s hit series Succession. As the show ran from 2018 to 2023, he detailed how he uses method acting (immersing himself in each character)—making him stand out among his other co-stars. A notable 2021 profile in The New Yorker got incredibly detailed in breaking down Strong's history and process as an actor, and even caused a bit of controversy as the show aired the back end of its third season (co-star Alan Ruck reacted to the profile in Men's Health, saying “It just makes him Jeremy. It doesn’t make him anything but just Jeremy, who is a wonderful actor. Right?”)

“He was wonderful to act with. I had no argument with Jeremy’s acting,” Cox said in The Guardian. “He would be an even better actor if he just got rid of that, so there would be much more inclusiveness in what he did.”

Outside of the television show, Strong applies his method practice to his other roles as well. He received a Best Supporting Actor nomination at this year’s Oscars for his portrayal of Roy Cohn in The Apprentice.

“When I look at the kind of transformational work based on historical characters that I feel inspired by, from Ben Kingsley in Gandhi, or Phil Hoffman in Capote or what I witnessed Daniel Day-Lewis do in Lincoln, it’s about transcending impersonation and finding the essence in a deep, serious way,” Strong told Deadline about his approach in January 2025.

Last year, the actor starred in a Broadway production of An Enemy of the People. Strong was equally committed to that part too, as he was drenched in ice by his co-stars on the stage. It’s no surprise he won a Tony for Actor in a Leading Role.

The Affleck Brothers and Their Recent Projects

Ben Affleck only appeared in one film in 2024, as he made a brief appearance in Jennifer Lopez’s This Is Me… Now. However, he has been hard at work behind the scenes. According to his IMDb, he served as an executive producer on Kiss of the Spider Woman, a buzzy Sundance flick that stars Lopez, as well as Small Things Like These starring Cillian Murphy and The Instigators with Matt Damon. This April, Ben will star in The Accountant 2, and later this year he'll appear alongside Matt Damon in Netflix's RIP. It was also recently announced that he will be taking on the lead role (after Damon had to drop out due to the filming schedule for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey) in the new Netflix thriller Animals, which he will also be directing.

As for Casey, he starred alongside Damon in 2024’s The Instigators and also in a sci-fi thriller called Slingshot, though many likely know him best for his role in Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy and his Academy Award-winning turn in Manchester by the Sea. He was also part of the stacked cast for 2023’s Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, playing the chilling role of military intelligence officer Boris Pash.

The Unexpected Success of a Coffee Commercial

It could have been a cash grab, but Jeremy Strong prepared for his Dunkin’ Donuts commercial like an actor getting ready to play Hamlet. He spent days thinking about how to make the Super Bowl spot unique before landing on the idea to send up his own reputation for going “full method.” The ad, which was directed by Ben Affleck and features Casey Affleck, finds Strong submerged in coffee grounds, refusing to leave his trailer to film his spot for the breakfast chain until the muse appears.

“I wanted to poke fun at this idea of me as this sententious, self-serious actor,” Strong says. “It was my response to the idea that I ‘don’t get the joke.’” Ever since The New Yorker published a deep look into his intense approach, Strong has been perceived as one of those actors with a capital “A,” ostentatiously suffering for his art. That 2021 story, entitled “On ‘Succession,’ Jeremy Strong Doesn’t Get the Joke,” presented him as a performer whose punishing commitment to his craft was either admirable or infuriating, depending on if you’re a “Succession” fan or Brian Cox. But what’s undeniable is the extremes that Strong goes to results in mesmerizing performances, both on stage (he won a Tony last year for “An Enemy of the People”) and screen (he’s up for an Oscar for playing the flamboyantly amoral Roy Cohn in “The Apprentice“). That utter commitment is even on display in Strong’s Super Bowl ad, where he reveals an unexpected gift for comedy while dressing as a town crier and reading a proclamation about caffeinated beverages.

“You have to be willing to make a giant fucking fool of yourself,” Strong says. “You have to go way out on that limb.” As he prepared for his Dunkin’ spot to debut, Strong chatted via Zoom about “The Apprentice’s” long road to the Oscars, playing Bruce Springsteen‘s mentor in a new biopic about “the Boss,” and becoming a coffee pitchman while having the last laugh. The Dunkin' commercial, far from being a career low point, has become a testament to Strong's versatility and willingness to embrace the unexpected.

The unexpected success of the Dunkin' ad highlights the power of creative risk-taking and the enduring appeal of humor, even in the realm of highbrow acting. The commercial’s viral popularity underscores the public's fascination with Strong’s persona and his commitment to his craft, proving that even method acting can be surprisingly funny. The final product is a testament to the collaborative spirit and the ability to find humor in unexpected places.