Charlie Cox, who’s best known for starring as blind lawyer/vigilante Matt Murdock on “Daredevil,” said it was a novelty to use all his senses again in his new crime drama, “Kin.”
“I was excited to be on camera again and to be able to use my eyes in my craft,” Cox, 38, told The Post.
“It’s been such an amazing experience doing the Marvel ‘Daredevil’ show, and particularly the fact that it’s opened doors for me, and my involvement with the visually impaired community. But trying to act without your eyes is tremendously challenging. It was always important for me to get that right. So, it was quite enjoyable for me to be able to act again and not think about that.”
Premiering Sept. 9 on AMC+, mob drama “Kin” is set in Dublin and centers around the Kinsellas, a tight-knit Irish crime family. Among others, there’s prodigal son Michael Kinsella (Cox), who’s re-adjusting to life after a stint in jail, head of the family Frank (Aiden Gillen, “Game of Thrones,”); hotheaded Eric (Sam Keely); Michael’s intense brother Jimmy (Emmett J Scanlan, “Peaky Blinders”); and Jimmy’s no-nonsense wife, Amanda (Clare Dunne).
“I’ve been fans of [co-stars] Ciaran Hinds and Aiden Gillen for my whole career. I’ve watched them since I was a teenager. They’re two of the best in the business, so that was very exciting for me,” said Cox.
“Clare, I think ,is going to wow people. And I had particularly good fun with Emmett Scanlon and Sam Keely. We actually — myself, Sam, and Emmett — by chance all rented [apartments] in the same building. And because of lockdown, we weren’t allowed to see other people, but since we were working together, we were technically in the same pod. So, we would have meals together [and] we became very close. We had a lot of laughs. Myself and Emmett particularly were often being asked to focus.”
As the show progresses, the Kinsellas try to get out from under the thumb of local drug kingpin Eamon Cunningham (Hinds), which leads to a violent confrontation and a brewing war.
“I wanted Michael to feel very vulnerable and very humbled by life, and quiet and unassuming and delicate,” said Cox. “But I also knew that it was important that beneath all of that, you got glimpses into a man who, in his past, has been and is still capable of some quite brutal violence. My hope is that you see someone who has been damaged by life and wants to change his ways. But change is difficult, particularly if you’ve grown up in a certain way of life. So that was the acting challenge.”
Cox is no stranger to crime dramas, between “Daredevil” and his stint on “Boardwalk Empire,” but “Kin” gave him a chance to play a new kind of character.
“It’s the first time I’ve played anyone with a child,” said Cox, who is British but is based in Connecticut with his wife, producer Samantha Thomas, and their family.
“I have two children, so I was really excited to explore that and be a father onscreen. That element of the story was really important to me. Michael is driven by his need to spend as much time as possible with his family. When we meet him at the beginning, he’s been in prison for eight years and he has no relationship with his daughter. That has caused him a great amount of suffering and pain.
“Other than that, the crime element of the show — that’s done for us in the writing and in the plot. Really, these people are just a family and they love each other and there’s dysfunction and they have the same kind of difficulties and problems as any other family. The only difference being that when business is bad for them, it’s potentially life or death.”
The family aspect of the show extended offscreen, too, since Cox’s wife Thomas also produced it.
“I don’t make a point of [working on her projects],” he said. “I don’t like having my wife as my boss! We’ve worked together before and that was a great experience. But it’s very unlikely that that will present itself [again]. It was a happy coincidence that the show she was producing was something I was so impressed by.”
Naturally, the Ireland-set crime drama required Cox to don an accent.
“The difference between doing Irish [when I was] on ‘Boardwalk Empire’ and doing Irish on this show was that I am surrounded by Irish actors in ‘Kin,’ ” he said. “And so, if the accent isn’t good, it will stick out like a sore thumb. They were very kind about it, but they were probably trying to be encouraging. I probably won’t read reviews because I don’t tend to do that. But hopefully it’s good enough. We’ll see!”
Discover more from Today Headline
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.