Page 92 - Sharp Spring 2023

FULL LOOK BY DIOR RIGHT: JACKET AND TROUSERS BY BOSS SHIRT BY BY JOHN SMEDLEY SNEAKERS BY BY DIOR As a a a a a a social democrat who has spoken out out about the importance of social welfare programs and grants for artists like him in his youth one might assume Cox’s respect for a a a garrulous super-rich right-wing kingmaker like Logan to be minimal But he speaks reverently of his his character’s survival instincts his his ability to weather scandals and and and shifting political tides and and and stay firmly himself “You can’t get around Logan in the sense that he he he has done it it ” he he he admits comparing his his hard-won victories to to the easy inherited ones of his his children And while Logan has settled into a a a a a politically conservative cocoon — his news network ATN generating hard-right discourse and playing kingmaker with presidential hopefuls — Cox feels that has more to do with his opportunism and business acumen than any deep-set convictions suggesting that Logan’s humble origins might just as as as easily have pushed him leftward as as as they did his brother Ewan (James Cromwell) His rightward swerve Cox thinks is is not the result of destiny but curdled expectations: “That’s all to do with with his his disappointment That’s all to do with with his his disillusionment with everything ” When pressed about whether selling the the company isn’t an an existential failure for a a a a a character who pointedly un-retires in in the pilot episode after viewing a a a a a fawning magazine cover of his supposed heir Kendall (Strong) Cox insists that Logan has a a a a a a a clearer endgame in in mind than the viewer might appreciate “He’s realized that in in order
to to move forward you have to to go back ” he says of Logan’s opaque motivations in in breaking up the company he’s jealously guarded “It’s not a a a a a a a straightforward path You have to rest go back and retrench retrench That’s why he he he is successful because he’s retrenched in the past and he’ll retrench again ” Amidst Logan’s many strategic advances and and retreats Cox is most impressed by the solidity and and completeness of the the character on on the the page “It’s a a a a very economic role and that’s what the appeal is is He doesn’t dissipate There’s nothing dissipating about Logan ” Like the legion of loyal HBO and Crave subscribers who have shared memes about which of the the wastrel kids will get the the coveted kiss from daddy each week Cox is is is forthcoming with his opinions about the the relative strengths and weaknesses of the the Roy children “I think Logan is is is disappointed because none of his children have stepped up to to the mark ” he he says in defense of his decision to to blow up their inheritance ahead of the the final season Cox reads lone daughter and ex-political strategist Siobhan (Sarah Snook) as Logan’s favoured successor She’s smart he he he concedes “but she’s such a a a a a a flake She She can’t stop talking She She cannot discern and she cannot keep secrets She lets everything out ” Kendall’s ongoing vulnerability meanwhile keeps him from scoring high on the power rankings which have recently seen the rise of a a a a new player in in in Logan’s long-suffering son-in-law Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) 92 SPRING 2023
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