“I’m full of opinions and a lot of crap”: Brian Cox gives his take on ageing, community, and going behind the camera for his new film Glenrothan
The veteran actor does double duty in his latest Highlands drama
There should be a picture of Brian Cox next to the dictionary definition of 'actor'. In the classic "aliens have landed" scenario where you have to pick someone or something that pithily sums a concept up for the space travellers, when it comes to acting, you could probably just show them Brian Cox’s extensive back catalogue.
From his theatre roles with RSC to his prestigious career across TV and film, Cox has taken on everyone from Greek villains to Highland heroes, grumpy media patriarchs to sinister serial killers. You’d think there’s nothing he hasn’t done, but he’s proving that hitting the big 8-0 doesn’t mean slowing down, turning his hand to directing his first ever feature film, Glenrothan.
The film reads as a love letter to - or tourism ad for - the misty and dramatic Scottish Highlands. It follows Cox as Sandy, the slightly tired frontman behind a traditional whisky distillery in a small Scottish community, Glen Nairn.
Looking (slightly longingly) towards retirement, Sandy calls on his estranged brother, Donal (played by Alan Cumming) who has been running a Blues club in San Francisco, leaving the Glen behind him 40 years ago, never to return.
Until now.
Finally persuaded to return home, Donal follows his daughter and granddaughter on their yearly trip to Glen Nairn, but his homecoming isn’t exactly a smooth, joyous celebration. Debating about the future of the distillery, the film is about connection, community, and just how much a good old dram can do.
Ahead of the film’s release on Friday 17th April, we sat down with Cox to see what the project meant to him.
Shortlist: Glenrothan is a very sweet film, and one of the lovely things about it is that although your character isn’t the designated parent, he has a lovely, paternal relationship with his niece and grand-niece. Inevitably people will draw comparisons between your infamous patriarch role in Succession with Sandy but what was it like tapping into that?
Brian Cox: It’s the art of acting. The roles dictate and tell you what is necessary. That’s the great thing about my job, whenever you start a project, it’s all there for you to mine. The better the writer, the more you can mine.
Sandy is a beautiful part, as he’s a man who’s ultimately been disappointed in life, he never did what he wanted to do, his burden has been doing what other people wanted him to do instead. That’s never happened to me, I’ve always been a free agent but I have tremendous empathy as I have a lot of friends who are good people but are in a particular place and stuck there, and Sandy’s a bit like that. As Shirley [Henderson's] character points out, the whiskey really is the heart of the people.
SL: Sandy as a character seems quite wise, and it feels like something you perhaps have in common with him - you have a very wise aura. I mean, you’re turning 80 this year, right?
BC: I don’t know about that… They tell me I might be turning 80 but I try not to think about that. It’s still a surprise to me, I feel like I’m still 9 which is a very formative age where you take everything on. But I still do that, that’s who I am – although I’m full of opinions and a lot of crap a lot of the time, but on the whole, that’s who I am.
SL: Do you have any advice, looking back?
BC: Do what you love, and love what you do – that’s the key. The problem is for most of human beings is they don’t get to do what they love. There are times when it [doing what you love] can be a chore – like when you’re working for someone who’s not very inspiring but on the whole, I’ve had the best time, I couldn’t imagine a better life than the life I’ve had.
SL: Going back to that idea of doing what you love, this is your directorial debut for film. Why this project and why now?
BC: It’s not my fault. There’s a certain gentleman who’s not sitting too far away from us right now who told me I was directing the film. He didn’t ask me, he told me, and made me an offer that I apparently couldn't refuse. So I ended up directing it! At first I wasn’t sure, I was very nervous about it – I’ve never seen myself as a film director, in that sense. But then I realised that I know a lot more than a lot of other people do about filming and I suddenly thought “you’ve done over 200 films, you should know something."
SL: You hear about weddings where someone is frogmarched down the altar – this feels like the film equivalent of that! But much nicer…
BC: I was sort of marched into it, but yes more fun! I’m so glad I did it, I learnt so much. The most important thing I learnt was the process of how the film is made. And it’s a group activity – I love the egalitarian nature of everyone being able to do their job. I don’t have any of those concepts that other guys and girls I’ve worked with have had. I always find there's no point arguing about something, you just do it. Everyone wants to do their best work so don’t stop them – encourage everyone to be their individual selves with their talent and let them come together. Working on Glenrothan, it's probably the best crew I’ve ever worked with, bar none.
SL: That’s really beautiful. There are a lot of great Scottish sayings in life and a couple in the film, do you have a favourite you can share?
BC: There’s one that came from my mother and she always used to say it to me when I was a wee boy: What’s for you won’t go by you". That to me is the truth – one loses a job, it wasn’t meant, it wasn’t part of your destiny. So there’s never a regret about major things, mostly. I believe that, what’s for you won’t go by you - and then if it’s not for you then it will go by you because it’s not for you. My mother was a wise woman for that.
SL: It sounds a lot wiser, in your accent if we’re honest!
BC: We have a habit of doing that – that’s the great thing about the Scottish accent is we have a reverence. Sometimes it’s a bit absolute though...
You can catch Glenrothan starring Brian Cox, Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson in cinemas across the UK from 17th April.
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