Brian Cox Compares His The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Character To Shakespeare's Tragedies

J.R.R. Tolkien's much loved Middle-earth returns to theaters in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which dramatizes the uprising of the Dunlendings against Rohan's king Helm Hammerhand. Set roughly 200 years before The Lord of the Rings, the movie is based on stories found within Tolkien's legendarium and leads to one of the most well-known moments in Rohan history: Helm's Deep. Helm Hammerhand's act of impulsive violence against Duenderling leader Freca set off a chain of events that ended in far too many avoidable deaths, but it also revealed the leadership and prowess of his daughter Héra.

Brian Cox voices Helm in The War of the Rohirrim, lending a palpable gravitas to the role. While he was not partial to the franchise before getting to know Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, he found plenty of meat in the character to sink his teeth into. The animates movie is uses the traditional anime style popularized in Japan, and the rest of the voice cast includes Gaia Wise as Héra, Luke Paqualino as Wulf, and Miranda Otto returning as Éowyn to narrate the story of her ancestors.

Related All 7 Main Deaths In Lord Of The Rings: War Of The Rohirrim Explained The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim uses anime style animation to depict a bloody conflict that was a benchmark in Rohan's history.

ScreenRant interviewed Cox about that drew him to the story of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The venerated actor shared the rich depth he found within Helm, and compared his character's relationship with Héra to present-day real-world gender issues.

The War Of The Rohirrim’s Helm Is A Shakespearean Role In Scope, Says Brian Cox

“I once played those roles, so this is mother's milk.”

ScreenRant: Brian, as a Lord of the Rings fan, this film works on so many levels. For you, what was it about the world of Middle Earth that fascinated you and made this role an exciting opportunity for you?

Brian Cox: It's just a great script. It's a great story. I didn't know the Lord of the Rings. I wasn't a Tolkien fan at all, but it's not that I didn't like him. Through Peter Jackson, I started to read the books, and so I'm grateful to Peter Jackson for that. I really liked The Hobbit. I thought, “Wow…” It also reminded me of my culture, the mystical elements of Celtic things, and the Norse. Those elements that are very prevalent in the UK that we tend to forget about. Tolkien captured that brilliantly, and the allegorical nature of his work was quite stunning, so I really appreciated him. And thanks to Peter, I've really gotten into it. But before, I was still trying to figure it out. I don't know. I knew about Tolkien, but I didn't focus on it. I had other fish to fry, as it were.

ScreenRant: Can you talk about your approach to capturing Helm Hammerhand's demonic drive and the blend of leadership with his role as a loving father?

Brian Cox: If you have you played any Shakespearian or major classical characters, there's always the element of obsession. They're obsessed – Hamlet's obsessed, Macbeth is obsessed, King Lear and his dotage are also obsessed, and Othello’s obsessed. Iago is particularly obsessed. I once played those roles, so this is mother's milk. To me, Helm is just something that is part of the repertoire that you go and say, “I'll do that.” It’s like saying, “I shall play an Elgar suite,” or what have you. That was what it meant to me, and I thought, “Wow, this is a no-brainer. They’ve finally cast me in a role I know I can play better than anybody.” Without being too vain glorious about it, just technically, I understand the work and what is needed. Especially if you're in the theater, you understand that you have to modulate; you have to be able to pitch quite hard on particular, allow the voice to go even quite shrill, but then be able to modulate it, be able to pull it back, not let it play you. You are still in charge. My passion is the radio; my favorite media is the radio. I love radio more than I love film. I love radio because you don't have to learn your lines. It's all there. You don't have to wear a costume or makeup. You're just in your own suit, and you create a world, and that's the simple thing you do when you come to this. You take the script, and you create a world.

Brian Cox Breaks Down The Relationship Between Helm, Wulf & Héra In New The Lord Of The Rings Movie

“It's the beginning of the matriarchy…”

Screen Rant: Can you talk about the evolving relationship with Helm and his daughter, Héra, and what you hope audiences take away from their dynamic?

Brian Cox: God, I'm getting a bit repetitive on this one, but to me, it's the allegorical nature of the war of the Rohan. We start off with a king who is quite an ugly person, who is threatening, and I feel very sorry for Wulf that he's got such an ugly father. If his father were more handsome, we'd be more forgiving of Wulf's obsession. But because his father is quite an ugly human being, not just in terms of his looks, but in terms of what he is, you realize that poor Wulf is doomed. He's doomed from the word go because he's got to think in a certain direction, and that's not what he should be doing. The allegorical nature of the film, for me, is about how the patriarchy can implode on itself and how we are left at the end with the great gesture of him shutting the door and talking through the door at her, and protecting his daughter, and also cutting out the patriarchal life; closing it down. It's the beginning of the matriarchy, and the beginning of something which we haven't yet even experienced yet. Especially with what's going on in the world at the moment, I think the film is incredibly allegorical. It really tells a tale about us now as much as anything else.

More About The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)

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Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg—a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.

Check out our other The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim interviews here:

Philippa Boyens

Kenji Kamiyama

Gaia Wise & Laurence Ubong Williams

Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is now playing in theaters.

Source: Screen Rant Plus