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“There are so many people who talk bollocks about film,” actor Brian Cox furiously concluded this afternoon at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
The veteran Scottish actor, now best known for his leading role in HBO’s Succession, was the surprise addition to an industry talk at the revamped Scottish fest where he characteristically shared his piece about the biz.
During the well-attended talk, chaired by Edinburgh TV Festival director Rowan Woods, Cox said he believes cinema is currently “in a very bad way” and has largely been overtaken by the work being created on television.
“Television is doing what cinema used to do,” Cox said. “Cinema has lost its place partly because of all the grandiose elements like Marvel, DC. It’s beginning to implode, so you’re kind of losing the plot. And television has really stolen the mark. Look at incredible things like Ripley and Succession. And you’ve got the honor of telling the story over a period of time.”
Cox conceded that he has played a part in what he described as the degradation of cinema with appearances in films like 20th century’s X-Men. But he zeroed in on other performers who have become frequent faces on the superhero scene.
“It’s become a party time for certain actors to do their stuff. You know Hugh Jackman could do a bit more and Ryan Reynolds if he wanted to could do a bit more as well,” he said. “But it’s because they go down that road and make a lot of money out of it.”
Cox’s critical assessment of the industry didn’t stop there. The Succession actor continued to raise the point of what he described as the “disgusting” business of self-tape auditions. The casting practice has been a controversial talking point across the industry for some years, particularly after it became the dominant form of casting after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What’s difficult for actors these days is the lack of intimacy with the casting director. Now they want every young actor or actress to make their own self-tapes. And they have to do that without actually meeting anybody,” Cox said.
“In the old days, you met Marion Dougherty or any of the casting directors and there was a rapport so you had a sense of where you were going. Whereas now young actors are in limbo and it’s designed for them to stay there. It’s disgusting quite frankly and it needs to stop.”
Elsewhere during the session, Cox let slip that he is currently prepping to make his directorial debut with a project he described as a “love letter” to Scotland.
“We don’t get our place artistically,” he said of his country’s reputation globally. “We created the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe which is probably the greatest fringe event ever. So we do that kind of thing. But for homegrown stuff, it’s very very hard. Almost impossible. So I felt it was time to come back and honor not just the country but also the people who work here.”
Cox said the project is set to start shooting in two weeks.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival runs until August 21.
