Brian Cox Fires Back: ‘I’m Too Old, Too Tired and Too F---ing Talented to Care’

At 79, Brian Cox remains exactly the kind of larger-than-life figure Hollywood doesn’t manufacture anymore — and he’s got the mouth and the résumé to prove it. In a vibrant, no-filter conversation captured in Screenshot (550).png, the Scottish actor lets rip on fame, politics, the state of the planet, and why he simply cannot be bothered with his critics.

“People have been sniping at me for years. I don’t give a s--t about that. I really don’t. I’m too old, too tired and too f---ing talented for any of that c--p,” he says, delivering the kind of quote that could only come from a man who has played everyone from King Lear to Logan Roy.

The Dundee Homecoming

Cox’s latest chapter begins where his story first did. The interview finds him at Dundee Rep, the theatre where he started out as a 14-year-old “assistant to the stage manager’s assistant.” It was more than a first job — it became a refuge. His father died when he was eight; his mother, battling mental-health issues, was often in hospital. He stayed with his older sisters, but found his real sanctuary inside the theatre.

“I found myself a wee nook that I could sleep in. Then I wouldn’t be late for work in the morning,” he recalls. That scrappy, self-made origin story runs through everything Cox does. Returning to Dundee now is bittersweet. The city has changed, the high street is dead at night, and the old King’s Theatre is now a nightclub called Pasha, “for some unknown reason,” he says with a familiar disdain.

A Career Made for the Stage

Cox has spent six decades commanding stages and screens, but the theatre has always been his true north. “It’s theatre that has the most profound effect on me,” he wrote in his 2021 memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat.

His range is staggering. Over the years, he has played Winston Churchill, Pablo Picasso, Titus Andronicus, Stalin, Göring, Trotsky, J Edgar Hoover, King Lear and Hannibal Lecter. He’s done more than 100 films, but he never lost his love for live performance — he took film and TV roles partly to fund his theatre work.

Iconic Roles and a Few Regrets

The list of characters he has embodied reads like a canon of power and chaos:

• Winston Churchill
• Pablo Picasso
• Titus Andronicus
• Stalin, Göring, Trotsky
• J Edgar Hoover
• King Lear
• Hannibal Lecter

He’s not shy about the commercial work either — Marvel’s X2: X-Men United brought in the “superhero buck,” and he’s done ads for McDonald’s and Malibu rum. But the stage remains the yardstick.

Taking on the Financial Crisis

Cox’s current project is Make It Happen, James Graham’s play about the 2008 financial crash. He plays Adam Smith, or as he puts it, “the ghost of fiscal past,” alongside Sandy Grierson as Fred Goodwin — the former RBS chief who helped steer the bank into a £24bn loss. Cox calls it “James Graham’s masterwork.” It deals with something that altered modern life.

“It deals with something that’s affected all our lives,” he says. “James Graham is an astonishing, visionary playwright.” The run is short — Dundee and Edinburgh only — but it’s clearly a passion project for an actor who doesn’t need to prove anything.

Sort of a Bond Villain

He has never appeared in a James Bond film, but Cox is getting his fix through reality TV. In 007: Road to a Million, now in its second season on Prime Video, he plays a Bond-style controller, sending contestants through gruelling challenges for a £1m prize.

“I’ve always thought I’d be a natural Bond villain, but this is the nearest I’ll get to playing a Bond villain — playing a Bond controller,” he says with a laugh. It’s a fun, knowingly ridiculous gig for an actor of his calibre, and he doesn’t pretend otherwise.

Politics, Trump and the World’s Ills

Cox has never been shy about politics, and this interview is no exception. He calls Donald Trump “a very good example of a villain, because he has no empathy whatsoever.” He warns that Trump’s self-serving politics is creating an oligarchy — but believes the American public is waking up.

On Sir Keir Starmer, he’s equally unfiltered: “Starmer — a liberal? You gotta understand what a liberal is — and that ain’t liberal. He’s an old-fashioned dyed-in-the-wool socialist by numbers.”

The Poem That Drew Fire

Cox also stands by his decision to read “If I Must Die” at a fundraiser for Medical Aid for Palestinians. The poem was written by Refaat Alareer, a professor killed by an Israeli air strike in December 2023. Cox is unrepentant about the backlash.

“There is no excuse for October 7, absolutely none,” he says. “Hamas is a terrible, insidious group. But Israel is killing children, and nothing will improve, because it’s the children who will remember what’s happening now and they will become the new Hamas.” He describes watching the situation escalate toward genocide and says many of his Jewish friends “really don’t like what’s going on.”

“I cannot tolerate what they’re doing to children. On any level, that is totally unacceptable.”

Logan Roy, Fame and Family

Then there’s Succession. The HBO drama turned Cox into a worldwide icon, and Logan Roy into one of television’s most terrifying patriarchs. Cox won a Golden Globe for the role — and earned a level of fame he still can’t quite process.

“The thing I can’t get used to now is fame,” he says. “People approach me and go, ‘Logan Roy! Logan Roy!’ Even in Shanghai, I thought I’d be safe — but no, it’s ‘Logan Roy! Logan Roy!’ And I go, ‘Oh f--- off.’”

He adores his co-stars, especially Kieran Culkin: “I love that boy — he just got better and better, I’m so proud of him.”

Off-screen, Cox is a father of four. With his first wife, Caroline Burt, he has Alan, a fellow actor, and Margaret, a teacher. He married Nicole Ansari in 2002 and they have two sons, Orson and Torin, both actors. He’s candid about his own parenting, even describing himself in his memoir as a “c--p dad” — but he has a philosophy about it.

“You’ve got to learn who you are and not be a projection of your parents. I think parents should be sent to a school to learn how to un-parent,” he jokes.

Full Throttle, No Retirement

At an age when most actors would slow down, Cox is busier than ever. He’s directed a film, Glenrothan, recorded more episodes of his radio series McLevy, and is launching a one-man show called It’s All About Me! next year.

“I have to earn a living,” he says with a grin — but it’s clear he simply can’t stop. “Some people retire — Gene Hackman and Sean Connery did. But mostly you go on until you drop dead.”

Given the fire still burning in him, don’t expect Brian Cox to slow down anytime soon. He’s too talented, too cranky, and far too entertaining for that.

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