Brian Cox says playing the New York Ripper in Dexter: Resurrection made him think he should go to therapy. He says a side of himself emerged while playing the role that he hadn’t known was there, despite his rejection of method acting.
“Doing Dexter was the weirdest experience I’ve had as an actor, because I was playing someone who I absolutely loathed,” he said. “I don’t buy into method acting, but this creature came out of me, which I didn’t even know I had. It makes me shudder to think.”
At 80, Cox has already played Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter and Logan Roy in Succession. His Dexter character, Don Framt, uses a wheelchair and can no longer carry out murders. He calls his victims’ families to torment them about the people they’ve lost.
“He can’t murder anymore, so he just gets off by teasing people,” Cox said. He compared Framt’s fixation on his past to an unemployed actor repeatedly watching his old movies.
Cox also found being on the set of Framt’s apartment difficult. “I had to when I was acting in the place, but I just thought, ‘This is truly horrible.’”
He said the performance came to him without having to develop the character: “I just walked in and he came out every time. And I thought, ‘Maybe I should go and have therapy’.”
“And I just thought that I cannot live with that forever, so I was quite happy to do it and get it over with.”
