Brian Cox reveals family urged him to take a break from work
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However the Succession star has scrapped plans to tour the UK in a new one-man show in the autumn, citing his busy schedule. It is instead expected to go ahead in 2026.
The actor, who earlier admitted he was feeling 'tired,' was asked about his decision to step back from work during an appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Actor Brian Cox has decided to shelve plans to tour the UK with a new one-man show. (Image: Oxford Union) He told host Mark Kermode: 'My family had been urging me to do it. My sons were separately worried about me.
'I was saying: 'Why are you worried about me? I'm fine.'
Brian Cox has recently been appearing in the National Theatre of Scotland production Make It Happen, alongside Sandy Grierson. (Image: Marc Brenner)
'But they do worry about me. It sort of caught on and I thought: 'Yeah, maybe I have just gone a bit too far. Maybe I've just got to stop.'
'I was supposed to be doing a big tour and I just thought: 'I cannot face it.' It had a title which I hate: 'It's All About Me.' I'm glad I've postponed it.'
Cox has been performing in Dundee and Edinburgh in recent weeks, playing the ghost of 18th century economist and philosopher Adam Smith in the National Theatre of Scotland production, which depicts the rise and fall of former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Fred Goodwin.
Cox, who appeared at the book festival alongside actresses Michelle Gomez and Kate Dickie, discussed working as a film director for the first time on Glenrothan, a family whisky drama Glenrothan set in a village in the Scottish Highlands.
Although Glenrothan, which Cox has described as 'a love letter to Scotland,' will get its world premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival, he admitted he had no idea when it will be released.
He said: 'It depends on the producers. There are so many producers now, I can't keep up with it.
'Films are a strange business. What I love is working with the individual talent and allowing them to do what they want to do and not get in the way of that.
'The problem with producers is they're not there. They don't really see what's going on and are full of opinion. You have to deal with that opinion and it's sometimes something you don't necessarily agree with.
'I think it's a very charming film. It's not a masterpiece, certainly not from my directing point of view, but it's just a great story, of brotherly love.
'As usual, they don't quite know what to do with it and when to put it out. They want to put it out next year and I'm just worried that's too late, really.'
Asked if he enjoyed the experience of directing Glenrothan, Cox said: 'No. Well, that's not true. In retrospect I enjoyed it.
'Everybody goes on about the director, the director this and the director that. You come with an illusion that is all about directing, but it actually isn't. It's about the people who contribute: the costume people, the production design, it's about everybody else. The director is just a cog in the wheel, I think, to allow them to express themselves.'
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