In a 2019 interview with Scroll.in, Brian Cox connected his Shakespearean stage experience to Logan Roy in Succession and explained how he approached Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter. His recurring interest, he said, is not in playing someone who thinks of himself as evil, but in understanding the beliefs that let a character justify harmful choices.
What Brian Cox said about Logan Roy and Succession
Devarsi Ghosh’s interview for Scroll.in, published June 16, 2019, focused on Cox’s work as Logan Roy, the formidable head of the Roy family’s media business. Cox linked the role to Shakespearean tragedy: “Logan is a King Lear-like character,” he told the publication.
He described the series as “a modern-day morality tale” about power, family and media. In Cox’s view, its story had a Shakespearean quality because it examined power corrupting families and dynasties, while also observing the influence of large media companies. These are Cox’s interpretations of the show, not a definitive account of its themes.
How Cox approaches characters who do wrong
Cox said audiences often see him as a villain, but that is not how he thinks about the people he plays. “It’s my fate that everyone thinks I play the bad guy, but I don’t think of myself that way,” he said. “It’s just that these characters are in situations where they behave badly, but I don’t believe people are intrinsically bad.”
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He looks for the belief system that makes a character’s conduct seem justified to that character: “I see these characters as people committed to their belief systems, who see no wrong in furthering national interest or their personal set of beliefs.” Cox connected that approach to roles including William Stryker in X-Men 2, Agamemnon in Troy, and Ward Abbott in the Bourne films. The interview’s emphasis is on Cox’s way of interpreting such roles, not on excusing their actions.
Playing Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter
Cox played Hannibal Lecter in Michael Mann’s 1986 film Manhunter, based on Thomas Harris’s 1981 novel Red Dragon. Cox called Lecter a “mythological character” and recalled thinking about Peter Manuel, a Scottish serial killer whose crimes he had known about from childhood. Cox presented Manuel as an influence on his thinking about the role, not as a direct model for Lecter.
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“I was obsessed with him,” Cox recalled of Manuel. “He was this bogeyman for us, but he conducted his own defence. He was so rational and so apparently empathetic, but actually, there was no empathy, and that’s how I saw Lecter. A man with a huge part of personality missing, who just cannot feel empathy for other people.” Cox also described Lecter as “deeply disturbed and kind of sick, suffering from a mental disorder.” Those are the actor’s comments about a fictional character and his interpretation of the part, not a clinical claim about real people.
Theatre, Shakespeare and a career across screen and stage
The interview places Cox’s stage work alongside his screen roles. By 2019, Scroll.in described him as having worked in plays, films and television for more than five decades. It highlighted stage performances in Titus Andronicus and King Lear, alongside supporting roles in 25th Hour, Adaptation and Zodiac.
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His other screen examples included Ward Abbott in The Bourne Identity (2002) and The Bourne Supremacy (2004), William Stryker in X-Men 2 (2003), and Agamemnon in Troy (2004). These are selected credits discussed in the interview, not a complete or current filmography.
Cox summed up his idea of acting through Shakespeare: “Shakespeare said the job of an actor is to hold a mirror up to nature. The problem is in my case, the nature is bad.” The line captures the interview’s thread: whether playing a family patriarch like Logan Roy or the mythic Lecter, Cox looks for the human logic characters use to live with what they do.
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About the interview
Devarsi Ghosh’s “Interview: Brian Cox discusses HBO series ‘Succession’ and his take on Hannibal Lecter” was published by Scroll.in on June 16, 2019. Its references to upcoming Succession episodes and television scheduling are specific to that publication date, rather than current viewing guidance.
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