Brian Cox is enjoying success right now, unlike any other time in his career, thanks to playing the patriarchal grump character in HBO’s Emmy-winning “Succession.” And over the past couple of years, the actor has been nothing short of a truth factory, with a memoir being published where he talks about everything and everything in a completely frank manner. But he’s also at the point in his career where he clearly has zero fucks to give. So, with that said, it’s not all that shocking that he would defend Bryan Singer.
In a new interview with Yahoo, Brian Cox was asked about his time working with Bryan Singer, during the production of the superhero film, “X2,” aka “X-Men 2.” Cox played the main villain of the film and was really great. However, with the more recent controversies surrounding Singer, with accusations of sexual assault against underage boys as well as people coming out to say he was nothing short of miserable to be around on set, there aren’t many defenders of the filmmaker in recent years. Cox, on the other hand, isn’t here to trash Singer. Not at all.
“I think he’s an extraordinary director — really, really gifted,” Cox explained. “Certainly I will always be grateful to him because he had confidence in me and got me the role. I played a waiting game and it worked.”
According to Cox, Singer was instrumental in his being cast as Colonel William Stryker for the “X-Men” sequel.
“Bryan summoned me to Vancouver where they were filming and said, ‘Look, I want you to be in this, but I have to play the waiting game with Fox, because they want me to employ this guy or that guy,’” Cox said. “I trusted him, and finally he got his way.”
The actor admitted Singer was “under a lot of strain” during production and said, “One of his great things was that when he came to a new set, he would have to rethink it. He’d have a thought, and then have to rethink [the scene]. So that was always a difficult transition for him. But once he cracked it, he cracked it very quickly and was able to get on with it.”
He continued, “There’s real allegory in that film, and it serves a lot of purpose. That’s why I love Bryan’s view on it, because he sees it very much as those who are out of the norm as it were. It’s very much an allegory film for him as well.”
Clearly, Cox is a loyal man, and that loyalty felt for a filmmaker who gave him a massive role 20 years ago, is the impetus for this defense. That said, in a world where Singer is persona non grata in Hollywood and seems to be completely done with his career, Cox is really going out on a limb to say anything nice about the filmmaker.
Again, it’s not like Cox really cares about what others think. There are just no more fucks to give.