Brian Cox gushes over 'LOTR' creator for major role

Brian Cox raves about Peter Jackson for giving him a role in the new Lord of the Rings anime, which he said he always wanted to become part of.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Succession star, in his usual no-nonsense approach, said he was never a Tolkien.

"I'm very grateful to Peter Jackson for introducing me to J.R.R. Tolkien because I wasn't a Tolkien person at all. I knew of the books, but I'd never read them, so they meant nothing to me," the veteran actor about the executive producer.

But when the books were adapted into a film franchise, he said, "And then the films came along, and I thought, 'Well, clearly, I should be in this.' But then I wasn't. So I thought, 'Oh well, to hell with it, my Lord of the Rings time is over.'"

"And then suddenly, this humongous role comes out, and you go, 'Wow, this is really something! And it's also an anime!,'" he gushed as he voiced Helm Hammerhand in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

Brain also explained his character has taken several progressive steps in the anime series.

"It works on so many levels. It's massively allegorical for our present day. The whole thing that's happening to women in your country, where women's rights are being set by men, not by women, is horrendous."

"There's that moment at the end of The War of the Rohirrim where Helm closes the door. It's like he closes the door on patriarchy and says it's up to you girls to sort the world out. I love that, I think it's so relevant today," he concluded.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is in cinemas.