Succession certainly isn’t Brian Cox’s first Hollywood rodeo, but the show made him a household name. His turn as Logan Roy is so sublime that people (despite him marvelously pulling off the recreation of a Euphoria scene) associate him with the role to a fault. That’s why no one seems to be able to resist asking him to tell them to f*ck off.
Yeah, I feel that. Heck, I did the same thing to him as a side note when we were meant to be talking about Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. And Cox puts up with this routine with (seemingly detached, in my observation) humor, but he let it be known during a Hollywood Reporter roundtable that the request is maybe getting a bit old. That’s the same roundtable where Sam Jackson revealed that his credit card ads are now more quotable than his MF-bombs, but at least Cox gets some love for the F-word.
Still, Cox would like everyone to at least consider the context or at least read the room before making the request:
“[I]t’s not the easiest thing to say to people. I mean, it started when I was playing L.B.J. in one of those theaters in New York. I came out one night and there was this young couple, very sweet, about 17, and they had a video and they said, ‘Could you tell us to f*ck off, please’ I mean, it’s unbelievable. But the worst was here in L.A. when I went to a meeting for Ronan Farrow, a #MeToo thing. He was launching the book and all these Hollywood women were there and it was very intense. And I was standing at the back and then [the women] all turned around and saw me and they [pointed a] camera and said, ‘Can you tell us to f*ck off’ I was like, ‘This is a #MeToo meeting, is this really proper to be asking me to tell you to f”ck off And does that mean that I get canceled”
A fair point! We can all take a step back and ask Brian Cox tell people to f*ck off at his own leisure. It’s time.