The Oscar-winning performance that pissed off Brian Cox: “I thought it was bloody awful!”
After his award-winning performance in the hit HBO show Succession, Brian Cox defined a new era of television with his steely image and ice-cold parenting tactics, barking demeaning yet creative insults at his dysfunctional children as they squabbled their way to the top. Cox was met with endless praise for his portrayal of business tycoon Logan Roy, a masterful exploration of conditional love, generational trauma and power. But before Succession, Cox starred in Churchill with Miranda Richardson during the same year that Gary Oldman also played Winston Churchill, with both films provoking very different responses.
Churchill follows the former British Prime Minister as he navigates Operation Overload with the guidance of his wife, Clementine. The film provides a more specific insight into the relationship between Churchill and his wife and the events leading up to D-Day, with a title card at the end of the film announcing who really won the war (in case the education system failed you).
However, the film was snubbed during awards season, with Darkest Hour being favoured instead. It’s rare to see two movies about the same person being released within the same year, so for one film to not be recognised while the other soars to fame and recognition would have been a tough pill to swallow for Cox.
However, Darkest Hour is a more traditional biopic, with Oldman playing the weathered politician during a broader overview of WW2. Despite being nominated for several Academy Awards, many people were critical of the film’s bias towards the former prime minister and slightly rose-tinted perspective of the complicated figure, critiquing its lack of historical accuracy after one particular scene on the London Underground in which Churchill speaks to the passengers to understand the lives and perspective of the ‘everyday person’, something more akin to the behaviour of Buddy the Elf rather than a strained politician.
But when Cox was asked how he felt about Darkest Hour being awarded over Churchill, he exclaimed, “I was pissed off… particularly when I saw the other movie. I thought it was bloody awful!”
Cox isn’t known for his subtlety, so his brutal honesty on the film is not out of character. He went on to say, “I mean, Gary’s a great actor, but… you learn not to be attached, to let go. Churchill probably wasn’t the greatest script, but I think the relationship with Miranda [Richardson, who played Clementine Churchill] was second to none. She’s a great actress, and she made me raise my game”.
Oldman won the Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’, as well as the Bafta and Golden Globe. While Cox is complimentary of Oldman, it’s unsurprising that the Scottish actor didn’t hold back when sharing his true thoughts on the film. Despite his lack of recognition for Churchill, Cox began work on Succession the following year, which is arguably the highlight of his career thus far, earning him a Primetime Emmy Award for ‘Outstanding Supporting Actor’ and the Screen Actors Guild Award for ‘Outstanding Performance’, cementing him as one of Scotland’s finest actors. Perhaps the unfortunate clash of both projects will act as a cautionary tale to future producers when scheduling more than one movie about the same person.
