You’ve played Boar On The Floor. Now, get ready for The Bird Is The Word. Brian Cox, in the wake of wrapping up on Succession, is starring in coming-of-age film Little Wing, playing Jaan – a curmudgeonly pigeon-fancier from Portland, whose best bird is pilfered by Brooklynn Prince’s unruly teen Kaitlyn. Initially hoping to sell the prized pidge and fix her parents’ finances, Kaitlyn instead teams with Jaan to get the bird back. It’s a role that, inevitably, led to Cox spending much time with coo-ing co-stars – and while the age-old mantra indicates to never work with animals, they left Cox’s feathers largely un-ruffled.
“I had to interact a fair bit with the pigeons,” Cox tells Empire in the new issue. “They could be quite boisterous, but once they were in their cages, they were actually rather well-behaved. And I didn’t get shat on once.” Consider that a result. Thankfully, Cox had professional help on hand when wrangling the avian actors. “We had great people handling the birds,” he says. “You had huge respect for them because they were so knowledgeable and dedicated to this culture [of pigeon-flying]. I just did whatever they told me.”
While Jaan has his sharp edges, don’t expect a full-on Logan Roy swear-fest in Little Wing. “He’s irascible, but only because he’s lost his favourite bird,” Cox explains. “And he’s right – there’s no defence for that. You don’t go around stealing world-class pigeons!” Especially if you don’t want to get shat on.
Read Empire’s full Little Wing story with Brian Cox in the Furiosa issue – on sale now. Order a copy online here. Little Wing comes to Paramount+ on 14 March.