Now here’s a funny thing: Total Film has interviewed Brian Cox before, just three or four years ago, and knows him to be pleasant, garrulous company; and yet the nerves are prickling as the time of our Zoom meet draws nigh, and a stab of fear pierces the heart as his granite face and hulking shoulders suddenly fill the screen. It doesn’t even matter that his image is blurry and the message ‘Brian Cox has low bandwidth’ pops up at the bottom of the screen – no number of technical issues can diminish this titan.
The reason for Total Film’s fretfulness is Cox’s performance as Logan Roy in HBO’s gold-standard drama, Succession. The patriarch of a global media and entertainment conglomerate, Roy, in his early eighties, is deciding which of his four children – Connor (Alan Ruck), Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Sarah Snook) – should replace him as CEO. Naturally there are Machiavellian power plays: Roy’s entitled offspring make for a cannibalistic clan, and outside threats gather as numerous cutthroat rivals wait, knives sharpened, in the wings. But Roy is not about to go gentle into that good night. A towering presence, he dominates every chamber and chopper he (dis)graces, usually telling all and sundry to “fuck the fuck off.”
This story is from the October 2020 edition of Total Film.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 2020 edition of Total Film.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Dune: Part Two – Desert Power
Like a colossal sandworm racing towards the rhythmic beat of a thumper, Dune: Part Two is almost upon us. And this time, it's war. Total Film returns to Arrakis with writer/director Denis Villeneuve and his (inter) stellar cast to spill the spice on the sci-fi event of the year.
Here Be Dragons
DAMSEL – Millie Bobby Brown fights fire with fire in the bedtime story that’s finally being told the right way.
Back to School
MONSTER – Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest takes us into a child’s viewpoint once again...
JESSIE BUCKLEY
Catapulting to fame over the last five years, instinctive Irish actor Jessie Buckley has wowed in films (Wild Rose, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Men) and TV (Chernobyl, Fargo S4). She was Oscar-nominated for The Lost Daughter, won a Laurence Olivier award for Cabaret and now she's spewing wild profanities at Olivia Colman in hilarious period comedy Wicked Little Letters.....
Marty me
Thelma Schoonmaker has edited every Martin Scorsese movie since 1980's Raging Bull. The three-time Oscar winner tells Total Film all about their legendary relationship, and why movies like Good Fellas, The Departed and Killers of the Flower Moon are a cut above...
FRISKY BUSINESS
Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan star as queer friends being chased by dumb male criminals in Drive-Away Dolls, a road movie/ romantic comedy/crime caper by husband-and-wife team Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke. Total Film hitches a ride with the directors and stars to talk dark laughs, dim crims and dildos…
JACK MY LIFE IN PICTURES BLACK
Over the years he's made us laugh as rockers, animated critters and videogame avatars. As he prepares to go full Dragon Warrior again in the fourth Kung Fu Panda movie, JACK BLACK riffs on some of his biggest hits with Total Film
DOG DAYS
Pablo Berger's animated silent’ movie brings the noise.
BEHIND PARADISE
RED ISLAND A coming-of-age-tale that creatively explores France’s colonial past.
THE SIXTH SENSE
MADAME WEB Dakota Johnson brings wit and grit to Sony’s clairvoyant-superhero-origin-story thriller.