Brian Cox is lastly starring in a Lord of the Rings film. When you ask him, it’s been a very long time coming.

“I'm very grateful to Peter Jackson for introducing me to J.R.R. Tolkien as a result of I wasn't a Tolkien individual in any respect,” the actor tells Leisure Weekly in regards to the director of the favored 2000s blockbuster diversifications. “I knew of the books, however I'd by no means learn them, in order that they meant nothing to me. After which the movies got here alongside, and I believed, ‘Nicely, clearly, I needs to be on this.’ However then I wasn't. So I believed, ‘Oh properly, to hell with it, my Lord of the Rings time is over.’ After which all of a sudden, this humongous function comes out, and also you go, 'Wow, that is actually one thing! And it's additionally an anime!’”

The acclaimed actor lastly enters Center-earth within the new anime movie The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which dramatizes a very vital second within the historical past of Rohan. Readers of Tolkien’s books and viewers of Jackson’s films are well-acquainted with the Battle of Helm’s Deep, and that is the story of how that fortress bought its title. It was impressed by Helm Hammerhand, the king Cox voices within the movie.

Meet the 'rebellious' heroine and 'fascinating' villain of Lord of the Rings anime prequel

By the point we meet him, Helm is an growing older king, however he nonetheless packs energy in his legendary fists — sufficient to kill rival chieftain Freca (Shaun Dooley) in a single blow after he has the temerity to suggest a wedding between his son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) and Helm’s daughter, Hèra (Gaia Clever).

This second of macho triumph is short-lived, nevertheless, as a result of Wulf finally returns with a military at his again to wreak vengeance on Rohan. This time, Helm’s fists aren’t of a lot use, nor are his sons. It falls to Hèra to save lots of the day, which turns the film right into a blistering portrait of the failures of patriarchy. Though Cox has needed to play in Center-earth for years, it’s this critique that he actually responded to within the new movie.

“It really works on so many ranges. It's massively allegorical for our current day,” Cox says. “The entire thing that’s occurring to ladies in your nation, the place ladies’s rights are being set by males, not by ladies, is horrendous. There’s that second on the finish of The Battle of the Rohirrim the place Helm closes the door. It’s like he closes the door on patriarchy and says it’s as much as you women to type the world out. I like that, I feel it’s so related at this time.”

Need extra film information? Join Leisure Weekly's free publication to get the most recent trailers, movie star interviews, movie critiques, and extra.

One of many earliest issues we knew about Battle of the Rohirrim was that Cox could be in it. His vocal efficiency was additionally among the many first issues completed for the film. That meant that the film was actually constructed round him.

“He’s such a pressure of nature,” director Kenji Kamiyama tells EW by way of translator. “When he was recording his voiceover, we didn't even have something of the visible animation to seek advice from as a result of it wasn't accomplished but. So, he was really simply going by his personal intuition. As a way to present the character's energy and the way formidable he’s, we had been asking him to magnify his voice. However he instructed us that it was not mandatory to try this, and he simply needed to do his personal method of performing. We had been considering, is that sufficient?”

See Brian Cox embody 'larger-than-myth' Lord of the Rings king in behind-the-scenes video (exclusive)

Kamiyama continues, “However his voice has that vitality and charisma, you may hear it. So by the point we had been mixing all this collectively, we had been really being influenced by his efficiency. It was seeping into how we had been creating the animation.”

Credit score Cox’s intensive expertise with vocal efficiency, from drama faculty lessons to working in BBC radio performs, for these instincts. “I imagine within the voice,” he says.

However he additionally is aware of lots about how fathers relate to their daughters beneath patriarchy. He not too long ago performed famous father of daughter Logan Roy on Succession and in addition has one himself.

“His efficiency got here absolutely shaped,” says producer Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote Jackson’s LOTR films and directed the vocal performances right here. “He’s a father of a daughter, in order that aspect of the story actually did resonate with him. He liked that journey of a father studying to see his daughter in one other method. With out shedding any energy or stature, you had this actor who was capable of be this warrior king who may then say to his daughter, ‘The day you had been born, I used to be dropped at my knees.’ It was similar to, ‘Oh my God, this man is aware of what he's doing.’ Once we had been recording him, we simply bought the hell out of his method, and it was fantastic.”

Along with the connection between Helm and Hèra, Battle of the Rohirrim additionally reveals the failings of patriarchy by way of Wulf, who turns into obsessive about vengeance after the loss of life of his father and unleashes a wave of bloody violence throughout the land.

“It's at all times an issue when you’ve a deeply ugly father,” Cox says of Wulf and Freca. “Wulf hasn't been helped by having the ugliest father possible, who he clearly loves, and all of us go, ‘Actually?’ There’s a really tragic aspect to Wulf in that he ought to have been any individual else, however due to his circumstances and due to being sure up within the patriarchy sport, he can't shake it off.”

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