Brian Cox defends non-disabled actors playing disabled roles: ‘It’s acting, it’s a piece of craft’

Actor dismissed the need for authentic casting on screen

Actor Brian Cox has criticised the push towards authentic casting, arguing that it does a disservice to the “craft” of acting.

“Authentic casting” refers here to the practice of casting roles with actors who have the same lived experiences – with, for instance, disabled roles going to disabled actors.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Succession star Cox discussed the films he had watched recently, such as A Beautiful Mind and The Theory of Everything.

A Beautiful Mind starred Russell Crowe as a mathematician who is diagnosed with schizophrenia, while The Theory of Everything saw Eddie Redmayne play the late Stephen Hawking, who had a form of motor neurone disease.

“Both brilliant performances,” said the actor (per The Guardian). “My wife said: ‘Well, of course, they wouldn’t be allowed to do that now.’ I said: ‘What do you mean?’ And she said: ‘Well, they’re not disabled or mentally ill.’

“But that’s wrong, because it’s acting, it’s a piece of craft.”

Cox also suggested that casting a severely disabled or mentally ill actor in a film “might be exploitative”.

In Succession, Cox plays Logan Roy, a vindictive media tycoon who suffers a stroke early on in the series’ run.

The third season of Succession arrives on Sky Atlantic at 2am on 18 October.