Brian Cox Decided to Become a Character Actor After Visiting Hollywood: ‘It Really Gave Me the Creeps'
Cox said during a discussion with Issac Butler for the Criterion Channel's 'The Craft of Acting' series (in the below video) that he made the decision to pursue supporting roles after getting his start on the West End in theater. After breaking out in the U.S., he proudly embraced being a character actor instead of a leading man.
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'I came to that decision much later because I had been a leading actor [in England]. I'd done a lot of theater, a lot of television, stuff like that. But when I decided to come here, I just didn't want to go that route,' Cox said. 'I came here in the '70s. I remember going to Hollywood […] and I really didn't like it. It really gave me the creeps, actually. I thought, 'Well, I got that out of my system, right?' But, I still wanted to do movies, and I wanted to do American movies because that was my inspiration when I was a child. So what happened was that I decided to become a character actor.'
Cox cited how he was inspired by late supporting actors from the Golden Age of cinema to bring gravitas to each role, regardless of how many scenes his character appeared in.
'I'm so influenced by people like William Deist and William Bendix and all those supporting actors of the '30s and '40s and what they did. I mean, they were the boosters of those films. Without them, there would be nothing, you know?' Cox said. 'I thought, 'That's my job. That's what I'll do. I'll be happy to do that.' Also, the challenge of giving an arc to a part, which is really difficult when you've only got three scenes and then there doesn't seem to be a connection [between them]. There is an inner connection; it's never the outer connection. That's why I decided to be a character actor.'
And it turned out to be a career-making decision: Cox has won two Olivier Awards, an Emmy, and a Golden Globe across his storied career. Cox has also lamented the current state of Hollywood today in recent years, saying in 2024 that TV has replaced films as the best mode of creativity for actors.
'What's happened is that television is doing what cinema used to do,' Cox said. 'I think cinema is in a very bad way. I think it's lost its place because of, partly, the grandiose element between Marvel, DC and all of that. And I think it's beginning to implode, actually. You're kind of losing the plot.'
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