Brian Cox has defended losing his temper in rehearsals, calling backlash to his behaviour “woke nonsense”.
The 79-year-old played the short-tempered and formidable patriarch Logan Roy on the popular HBO series Succession, which followed a family-led media conglomerate Waystar Royco. His acting process has proven divisive with co-stars, such as Sarah Snook, who said the actor would fly into a “diabetic rage” on set, making it difficult to separate his character from the real Cox.
Last year, Cox is said to have been reported to Equity, a trade union for performers and creatives, after losing his temper through rehearsals for a production of A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, according to The Times.
Cox defended his actions by claiming that actors from his generation would typically lose their temper while acting. Reflecting on his entry into theatre as a working-class youngster in Dundee, he recalled witnessing a fist-fight between two actors, including Excalibur actor Nicol Williamson, and said the exchange would not be allowed to pass in modern times.
“Nicol wouldn’t have lasted two minutes today,” he told The Times. “It’s this whole woke nonsense. You can’t say boo to a goose. I mean, I just lost my temper and I said, ‘I’m not losing my temper at you. I’m losing my temper at me. I’m the one who’s having the problem, not you.’”
The actor, who is set to star in Make It Happen – a play about the troubles faced by the Royal Bank of Scotland – has been called out in the past for his hot-headedness on set by colleagues.
Snook said last year: “He has a habit of sometimes going into a false – or could it be real, who knows? – diabetic rage. I think part of it’s a little of trying to just jolt the energy of the set and rustle a few feathers, get it going and moving faster. The quality of his voice can be very terrifying sometimes. Thunderous.”
Other co-stars have commented on Cox’s dominant presence on set, with Peter Friedman who plays Roy’s longtime confidant, Frank Vernon, previously admitting to finding the actor “frightening” in an interview with The Guardian.
“He’s frightening when he gets up into high dudgeon,” said Friedman. “I don’t mean just acting frightening, I mean actually frightening. He can get there! But he’s also the nicest guy in the world.”
Meanwhile fellow Succession actor J Smith-Cameron who plays Gerri Kellman, legal counsel to the Roy dynasty, previously shared that the actor could be “scary” and “terrifying” to work with in an interview with GoldDerby.
