Brian Cox has developed a fun little sideline, in recent years, of giving interviews where he seems capable of getting volcanically angry at a seeming moment’s notice. The man himself notes, in a very on-brand interview with The Times Of London this week, that some of this is at least partially Succession‘s fault: “I mean, before Succession I never used to swear… Now I swear all the fucking time!” (We should note that the Times piece edits Cox’s swears, but we’ve used powerful analytical technology called our eyes and brains to determine what “f***ing” might have meant in this context.) This ire is most especially evident in regards to other members of his chosen profession, hence an interview that sees Cox tear, at least briefly, into such esteemed colleagues as 25th Hour‘s Edward Norton, Quentin Tarantino, and, of course, that most celebrated of cinematic luminaries: The Squishmallow line of high-priced plush dolls, available in many of America’s finest “This will shut your child up for approximately 32 seconds” retailers.
And, admittedly, we may have gotten just a tad fixated on the Squishmallow portion of Cox’s interview, which crops up in the context of his ongoing ad-man relationship with fast food chain McDonald’s. See, the burger giant is shoving the very popular dolls into its latest batch of Happy Meals, and some poor sacrificial lamb was tasked with telling Cox that his pronunciation of the non-word name was just a tad confusing, vis-à-vis “Squishmallow,” an internationally recognized toy brand, and “Squishmellow,” which is nothing bullshit. “We had a row,” Cox told the Times, “solemnly.” “I said, ‘For fuck’s sake, it’s mallow. I’ve just done a whole day of ads saying Squishmallows!’ ”
Beyond this delightful glimpse inside the actor’s studio, the interview sees Cox—who’s promoting his directorial debut, a two-hander he also stars in with Alan Cumming titled Glenrothan—chuck his usual off-the-cuff firebombs at his fellow thespians. Norton is “a pain in the arse,” Ian McKellan “not to my taste,” and Kevin Spacey is a “stupid, stupid man.” He talks shit about the recent Wuthering Heights, despite not having seen it (mocking the idea of an Australian actor in the part of Cathy, while also calling Margot Robbie “too beautiful for that role”); digs up his his old critiques of co-star Jeremy Strong’s acting methods (“He’s begged me to stop talking about him… He’s a wonderful actor. It’s just all the bollocks that goes with it”); and, now that he’s a director himself, tosses some shade at Tarantino, to boot: “I like to honor the actor’s performance. With a Quentin Tarantino film, what you see is all Quentin Tarantino.” And while we are having some fun here with the way Cox seems to be allowing himself to slide deeper and deeper into his public persona every year, there is something delightful about hearing a Shakespearean actor pivot between complaining about fucking Squishmallows and correctly using the word “meretricious” in a slam on an internationally famous director in the span of a single conversation.
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