Cox might find Trump every bit as evil as Logan Roy, but he thinks his “Succession” character is more dramaturgically interesting.
Playing former President Donald Trump isn’t so “dramaturgically” interesting to Brian Cox.
Following last Sunday’s jaw-dropping “Succession” twist, Cox spent much of the week taking a media victory lap to discuss his five-year run playing media mogul and terrible parent Logan Roy. While he took every opportunity to praise Jesse Armstrong’s writing and explain the lengths he went to keep the twist a secret, the outspoken actor also found time to take a few shots at Trump.
In an interview with Deadline, Cox voiced his thoughts about the similarities between Roy and Trump. While “Succession” proved that Cox can play an aging right-wing demagogue as well as anyone, he said that he doesn’t find Trump nearly as interesting as Roy. The Scottish actor explained why he wouldn’t ever be interested in playing Trump if the opportunity presented itself.
“You know, somebody said, would you ever want to play Donald Trump,” Cox recalled. “And I said, well, no. Because I think it’s such a bad script, the Donald Trump script. But then I look at Donald Trump, and I think, God, he’s so lost. He’s just a lost individual, and he’s so full of shit, and the reason he’s full of shit is that he’s an abused child. He’s really an abused child, Donald Trump. A tragic figure.”
But while Cox won’t be playing the indicted former president any time soon, he explained that his enthusiasm for playing characters that he finds morally and politically abhorrent hasn’t diminished.
“Even though a lot of these very right-wing individuals are repellant, ironically, from the actor’s point of view, when the actor gets into the skin of these guys, you begin to understand where they’re coming from,” he said.
Passing on the hypothetical opportunity to play Trump shouldn’t set Cox’s career back too much, as he has a busy schedule of projects lined up now that his “Succession” commitments are over. He’s planning to return to the London stage later this year in a West End revival of Eugene O’Neil’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” and is set to make his feature directorial debut on the upcoming Scottish drama “Glenrothan.”
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