Brian Cox names his favourite Coen brothers movie: “Pushing the envelope all the time”
Across his long and prosperous career, Brian Cox has worked with some of the finest directors to ever frame a shot. His oft-forgotten turn as Hannibal Leckter (that’s how the character’s name is spelt in the film) in Manhunter was directed by the great Michael Mann. The first episode of Succession, the show that made him famous to an entirely new generation, was directed by Adam McKay, and there are countless other famous filmmakers that the deep-voiced Scot can call former bosses.
One director, or rather a set of directors, that Cox has never worked with is the Coen brothers. Joel and Ethan have never had the pleasure of bossing Logan Roy around, but he has appeared in numerous projects with some of their favourites. He starred in Hidden Agenda in 1990, an early vehicle for Frances McDormand. The three-time Oscar winner has appeared in a record nine of the brothers’ films and has been married to Joel since 1984.
He’s clearly a big fan of the duo, however, despite having never been given a call-up. In 2025, the New York Times published a list of ‘The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century’, with the help of some prominent actors, directors, artists, and other names from the world of film. Celebrities like Julianne Moore, Celine Song, Nicholas Sparks, and John Waters were asked to give their top ten choices, which would then be formulated into one ‘definitive’ list. Cox’s list included the film that would end up at number six on the overall countdown: No Country for Old Men.
“It’s the Coen brothers at their best,” he said of the movie, which was released in 2007 to critical acclaim. “They’re sort of daring and they’re pushing the envelope all the time with the amazing character played by Javier Bardem”.
Based on the 2005 Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, this neo-western follows Josh Brolin’s Llewelyn Moss, an ordinary man from Texas who stumbles across $2million in cash at the site of a drug deal gone wrong. He quickly becomes the target of Anton Chigurh, Bardem’s character that Cox alluded to. Chigurh is deeply sinister, a cold, unwavering killer-for-hire who will do whatever it takes to get the job done. He is identifiable by his atrocious haircut, signature bolt gun weapon, and the choice he offers to potential victims to stake their future on a single coin toss.
No Country for Old Men is one of four Coen brothers movies to feature on the list. Inside Llewelyn Davis (83), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (76), and A Serious Man (36) all got their flowers, but only No Country cracked the top ten. Elsewhere on Cox’s ballot, he chose some fairly obvious candidates, such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Mulholland Drive, as well as some more obscure choices. He chose Leviathan, a Russian film about corruption in small-town politics, and The Lives of Others, a German drama about a Stasi officer who begins spying on a famous playwright in East Berlin.
It might not be a particularly deep cut, but No Country for Old Men is widely regarded as the best Coen brothers film for a reason. Cox is one of many punters to admit his affection for the film, but few have been able to sum up their thoughts on it quite as succinctly as he has.
