Charlie Cox Talks ‘King Of Thieves’ & Working With Michael Caine, Director James Marsh, & More [Interview]

Charlie Cox‘s latest film, “King of Thieves,” reunites him with his “The Theory of Everything” director, Oscar winner James Marsh (“Man on Wire“). Penned by “Mindhunter” scribe Joe Penhall, “King of Thieves” tells the unbelievably true story of the Hatton Garden heist that took place in April 2015 in London. What made this story so newsworthy? Aside from the fact that it was considered the largest burglary in English legal history, it was committed by a group of elderly crooks and one younger, supposed security alarm expert Basil (Cox).

READ MORE: ‘King Of Thieves’ Trailer: It’s ‘Ocean’s 8’ But With Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, And Director James Marsh

Michael Caine, Michael Gambon, Ray Winstone, Jim Broadbent, Tom Courtenay, and Paul Whitehouse round out the all-star cast. Cox, who’s been acting in film and television for over two decades, more than holds his own against the veteran actors, and as the socially awkward introvert Basil, continues to expand his range.

Recently, I caught up with Cox to discuss the making of “King of Thieves,” his career, the transformation of television over the past few decades, and more. Stay tuned for a second part about “Daredevil” as Cox went on at length about that series, its cancellation, and more.

This is the second time you’ve worked with director James Marsh. When someone of his stature approaches you with a project, does it take much convincing?
[Laughing] No. The opposite. But, particularly, when you present a cast like this. I said to him, “I’ll play a tree if you need me to in this one.” [laughter].

Had you known about this heist before you read the script?
Oh, God, yeah. Being a Brit, I was very, very aware of it. I remember waking up and turning on the news the morning after the Easter holiday and hearing about it. Obviously, at that point, no one knew who’d done it. It was just the crime itself that people were fascinated by. And a few months passed, and it turned out to be these old geezers [laughter]. It felt like one of those examples of something that you can’t quite believe could happen.

It is definitely stranger than fiction. Screenwriter Joe Penhall is known for his excellent pacing and building of this substantive cinematic worlds. Aside from the talent involved, what intrigued you about this particular world that Penhall provided in the script?
Other than the story, what I admired about what Joe had done with the script was that it would be so easy to take that story and turn it into a comedy. And, obviously, because of the nature of the story, there were going to be comedic moments. But in the script, it was pretty clear that Joe was focusing on the fact that these guys are not the nicest fucking bunch of people. They’re hardened criminals. They’re not shy of a bit of nastiness. His interest was really what happens after the heist, and telling the story and how this brutish group of people had to come together in order to pull off something that seemed impossible.

But as soon as it’s done, it unravels because they all distrust each other, and they’re all paranoid, and they feel like they’re gonna get fucked over. That element is the most human element of the story. The best way to tell the story is tell it as truthfully as possible.

You’re the youngest actor in the cast by a long shot.
Yeah [laughter].

Did you pick up on any tricks of the trade worth sharing working among such talented veterans?
You do learn all sorts of things, particularly when you work with people of this caliber and this experience. But I’m not sure that you can identify or articulate what those things are. I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years myself now. so it’s not like it’s my first gig. What I do pick up on is that these guys are icons of a generation, and heroes of mine. And what’s very encouraging to me is to meet guys like these, and to work with them, and to discover that they’re very normal and they’ve very kind and nice to everyone. And they’re very prepared. They’re never late. And that is very encouraging.

It’s through a process of osmosis, almost, you kind of get little bits. You pick up on little things and you don’t really realize you picked up on. And you end up taking that on into your next job.

James Marsh expertly infuses old films from some of the actors’ previous films including Ray Winstone’s “Scum” and Michael Caine’s “Italian Job.” Not only is it nostalgic, but it establishes a precedent for prior heist films. Did you do any research of your own in the genre as a refresher before you delved into your character?
Yeah. I rewatched or watched some heist movies, more-so just for the thrill of it, or films that I thought were from a similar sentiment. The style of them, or the Englishness, is quite familiar to the script. But, really, my time was spent trying to get to the bottom of who this guy Basil was. He’s the one character that we know nothing about, really. How did he slot into this group of people? Why is he so much younger than them? Why did they need him? What is the point of him in the story?

With “King of Thieves” coming out, you’ve worked consistently in film and television, as you mentioned, for the past 20 years. Which visual medium do you prefer working in?
I don’t know if I have a preference. I’ve been lucky enough to get involved with television at a time where the quality of television has increased so dramatically. When I was a kid, there was a period of time where there were television actors and there were film actors. A lot of movie stars wouldn’t do television, and that’s not true anymore. There are all these big movie stars [that] are now doing miniseries and long-form television. My first major TV gig was “Boardwalk Empire.” And that, of course, was directed by [Martin] Scorsese, and had all sorts of big movie stars in it. The medium, in terms of the quality of it and the process, has become quite similar.

From a storytelling point-of-view, they’re quite different, meaning that the films get a beginning, middle, and an end. You get to see the whole thing in script form, and you get to plot and plan the journey that your character goes on from start to finish. With a TV show, that’s not the case. The constant battle with a television show is that you’re trying to come to some sort of satisfactory conclusion from an audience’s point-of-view, but leaving the door open enough that you can do more seasons of television, were you to be requested to do so. That’s a fun challenge.

The mediums certainly allow for differently structured character arcs.
In a movie, you can play a character that goes through a tremendous emotional upheaval, or he changes fundamentally who he is or what drives him over the course of a film. It documents a very significant period in a person’s life, and that’s quite fun. In a TV show, you can’t really do that because people in real life don’t always change that much over a couple of years. You don’t get this monumental shift in who that person is so much.

“King of Thieves” hits theaters and VOD platforms on January 25. You can watch the trailer below: