Brian Cox V Iron Man
Scottish star blasts ‘despicable’ Marvel f ilms and says they’re squeezing out smaller movies
HE has starred in some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters including The Bourne Identity and X2: X-Men United.
But Scots actor Brian Cox has claimed the film industry is being ‘suffocated’ and is now in crisis because of the dominance of the Marvel comic book franchise.
Cox, 73, from Dundee, is the latest big name from the world of entertainment to take aim at the superhero movies.
Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese has already claimed blockbusters such as Iron Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron are ‘closer to theme parks than movies’.
Speaking to The Scottish Mail on Sunday from his home in New York, Cox said: ‘Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.
‘The latest big Avengers movie or blockbuster is too impersonal, with everybody getting their rocks off.
‘Cinema is riddled with blockbusters and these big movies mean the smaller movies are being crushed by the big studio pictures
‘Cinema is in a relative crisis. A cineplex has five screens and four of them are showing The
Avengers and every other film is vying for that one other screen.’
Cox – who played villain William Stryker in
X2 – now stars as media baron Logan Roy in
HBO’s Emmy-nominated and Bafta-winning TV series Succession. He believes the hit show is an example of television having
‘left the film world standing in the slips’ as a result of its obsession with superheroes.
Cox said: ‘The streaming thing is really challenging. It’s the long form, which is over ten episodes.
‘It’s great for the actor and on the whole it’s much more rewarding than doing films, which is sad because I love films. ‘Films are my childhood. It’s why I came to this country – to do movies.
‘But streaming has revolutionised television and television is doing very well.’ Cox also called for the reintroduction of independent cinemas, saying: ‘We need a series of different kinds of cinemas because the multiplex doesn’t work. It’s too impersonal.
‘But I don’t think the studios are going to give up their position and I don’t think the cinema owners are going to give up their position.’
Scots Guardians of the Galaxy 2 actor Tommy Flanagan – who played Ravager alien Tullk – also took aim at Marvel at an Edinburgh fan convention last month. But his Invernessborn co-star Karen Gillan, who plays mercenary Nebula, leapt to their defence, saying the films are ‘art made by real artists.’