Brian Cox believes that cinema is in “a very bad state” and that the Marvel and DC universes are partly to blame.
The legendary actor on stage and in film – most recently known for his award-winning role in HBO’s Consequence – spoke on Saturday at a panel at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. When asked about the recent success of globally popular television shows, Cox referred to the latest MCU installment Deadpool and Wolverine as a great example of cinematic “party time”.
“What’s happened is that television is doing what cinema used to do,” Cox told the audience. “I think cinema is doing very poorly. I think it’s lost its place, partly because of the grandiose element between Marvel, DC and all that. And I think it’s actually starting to implode. You kind of lose the plot.”
He talked about Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman from Deadpool and Wolverine while pointing out that films “make a lot of money, which makes everyone happy, but as far as the work goes, it gets diluted afterwards. You always get the same thing… I mean, I’ve done those (projects).”
Cox played William Stryker Jr. in X2: Unity of the X-Men (a military scientist who convinces Hugh Jackman’s Logan to become Wolverine) and admitted that he “forgot” that he “created” Wolverine. “Deadpool meets the guy… Wolverine that I created but forgot about. In fact,” he jokes, “there’s always a little bit of me (as Stryker) in these movies and they never pay me any money.”
“It’s just become a party for certain actors to do these things,” Cox added. “When you know Hugh Jackman can do a little bit more, Ryan Reynolds… but that’s because they’re going down that road and it’s box office. They’re making a lot of money. You can’t underestimate that.”
Television is moving forward, he continued, with incredible shows like Jesse Armstrong’s Consequence and Netflix Ripleystarring Andrew Scott. “There are so many (shows) and you have the honor of telling the story over a period of time.”
The actor said that films of his childhood like The water in the neck are the reason he wanted to be “the actor I became,” but that desire has been partially extinguished.
Cox spoke briefly about his childhood in Dundee, Scotland, where there were 21 theaters. “From the age of six to eight, I went to all of them.” He compared filmmaking in his time with the challenges of modern casting processes for actors today.
“Today, they want every young actor or actress to do their own self-tapes. They have to do it without meeting anyone, and sometimes they don’t even get the damn result because they’re ignored. They spend three days doing a self-tape that goes nowhere.” Casting directors and actors used to have “a good rapport,” Cox said, so aspiring professionals in the industry had a sense of where things were going. “Today, however, young actors are in limbo, and that’s frankly disgusting because it actually limits what an actor can do or who an actor is.”
“It’s a terrible, terrible system. I wish it would stop. I wish we could go back to individual relationships, and that’s what art is about. It’s about relationships.”
The panel where Cox spoke was moderated by Rowan Woods, director of the Edinburgh TV Festival. Panelists included Alex Walton of WME, producer Afolabi Kuti, ventriloquist and director Nina Conti and director Daniel Reisinger, who spoke with The Hollywood Reporter on Friday. The topic was how live performances and television appearances can successfully transition into filmmaking.
Cox said he has great respect for directors like Mark Mylod, who ConsequenceBut being a good director requires giving up control, Cox added. “When you’re thinking about 50 million things and someone says, ‘What should she wear? This or that?’ I don’t give a shit. Whatever she wears. It’s fine, you know? That’s the good thing about letting people do their jobs.”
“If you have a production designer, don’t get in their way. If you have a makeup artist, don’t get in their way. They’re there for a reason and they’re there to join the community and offer their skills. I think there’s too much control. Because control is the death of any art form, because it’s not about control, it’s about things that flow, things that move, you know?”
