Director in Focus - Marcellus Cox

Interview by Adam Freed

The open-air birdcage elevator at the Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles only works selectively. The ornate wrought iron structure built in 1893, like the historic building in which it lives, is still in perfect working order, it just doesn’t work for everyone.  A diminutive green sign on the sliding iron door reads “Elevators Not for Public Use'' a stern reminder that although the Bradbury Building remains gorgeous 130 years after its creation, it isn’t a place for all comers, much like the city in which it resides.  A few short decades after Lewis Bradbury’s brainchild was erected, the Hollywood machine began its factory-like ascension to the great fascination of the outside world.   For more than a century Hollywood, and Bradbury’s elevators, have decided who shall rise to the top and who may wait in the majestic atrium craning their necks upward, fantasizing of what dreams may come.

Standing on the ground floor of the Bradbury next to me is the 36-year-old Marcellus Cox, writer, director and native Los Angelino. What separates Cox from the rest of the public that visit Hollywood is that he is sitting on a million dollar proof of concept in the form of his brilliant debut independent drama Mickey Hardaway (2023).  Waving a keen thematic sword, Cox’s first foray into feature length directing tackles issues such as mental health, abusive relationships and alcoholism.  These are topics that Cox holds near and dear to his heart, partially motivated by his upbringing, and partially because of the courage it takes to tackle such subjects.

 “Mickey’s father shares a great deal in common with my dad.” Cox shares openly concerning the memory of his father.  “I love him to death, but everything was always about how I’m going to make money?  How will I learn to support myself?  My dad was very clear that once I turned eighteen, I was out [of his house].”  

Support from his father for the writer and director’s dream was always veiled by practicality.

 “He would always ask me how I planned on making money by writing, by making movies.  I’m happy that he had a chance to see the Mickey Hardaway Short (film) before he died.” Cox added thankfully.  “He took a long look at the father's character.”  

Cox insists that his relationship with his father was a good one, despite some of the hard edged depictions of Mickey’s father within the film.  The inclusion of some of the realities of Cox’s childhood specifically inform the hard hitting nature of his feature debut.  

One doesn’t just wake up on a Monday and decide to become a filmmaker, this certainly wasn’t the case for Cox who was blessed to have his late grandmother in his life to introduce him to the cinematic classics as a child. 

 “My grandmother, rest in peace, was a huge influence on my love of cinema.  She used to take me to go see everything.” He added nostalgically. “ She used to take me to see The Bicycle Thief and 8 ½, movies like that.  She was the one who exposed me to cinema.” 

Mr. Cox shares lovingly that his grandmother was never afraid of telling him the truth.

“If she were alive today she would probably be my harshest critic and my biggest supporter.” 

Above all lessons learned as a child, Cox asserts that maintaining control of an environment is paramount, something that lends itself flawlessly to working as an independent filmmaker.  

“I love working with actors” Cox interjects with a smile. “I love to get on with them and get the best from them and for themselves.” 

The theme of control came up more than once within our conversation, as it is a topic that means a great deal to Cox, 

 “…The advantage of making a film on a relatively low budget is that I don’t answer to anyone but myself.”  On the topic of a higher budget Cox was clear.  “ Yes, it would be great to have the resources to help with festivals and marketing and all that, but then you have to answer to someone else and the story wouldn’t be the same.”  

Marcellus Cox isn’t exactly new to the filmmaking world.  After graduating from El Camino College (his dark comedy KKK Rises quickly earned a “no thank you” from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television) he quickly took to the short film medium to craft a wide variety of high interest stories.  But he rapidly realized that he wasn’t given a complete education as a student.  Cox started to notice some gaps in his complete understanding of the industry.  

“I think that’s one of the things that a lot of us have been struggling with when we came out of film school, is the fact that we were never really taught the business side of filmmaking.”  

Highlighting the difference between knowing the craft and being fluent in the business behind its creation, is something  the director continues to fight. 

“We spent so much time on the artistic side of things…but there was no understanding of what the distributors wanted to see.”  

On the topic of elevating beyond technical proficiency, a semblance of agitation boils to the surface, seemingly built on years of frustration in an industry that forces all but a very select few to climb exclusively uphill.

 “[They] send us to these schools for years to learn the craft, well we’re developing the craft and telling stories that we feel are going to be fulfilling to us, but [it seems] what people want is a story that has already been told so many times.”  

The disconnect between learning how to become technically proficient as a filmmaker and actually marketable is the current crossroads where Cox finds himself.

There is a veil of truth connected to the young filmmaker’s perspective. He is sitting on a critically acclaimed feature debut, Mickey Hardaway, which has earned a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes yet he continues to battle for another opportunity to prove his worth in an industry seemingly addicted to the “sequel, prequel, spinoff” format.  While currently taking meetings with studios in hopes of planting his next conceptual seeds, the writer and director faces an uncertain future in a city packed to the gills with people with big dreams.  Cox’s dream has become a reality in the sense that one of his many visions has come to fruition.  Mickey Hardaway is the real deal (see film review linked below).  But financial and artistic freedom has not, as of yet, followed the critical acceptance of the film.  For now the young director in the t-shirt honoring the late Tupac Shakur stands with the rest of us at the base of an elevator close enough to touch, but very clearly limited to insiders only.  

“I’ve got tons of ideas,” Cox added with a confident smile. “A notebook full of ideas, and any one of these could be ready to go.”  

The director knows his value, he’s received enough external validation from critics and fans of his film (available on PrimeVideo, AppleTV+ and Tubi) to reassure him of a fact that he has long known to be true.  He is good and so is his debut film.  The Hollywood waiting game swallows some while making others hungrier.  

The brainchild building of Lewis Bradbury and architect Sumner Hunt has lived longer than Hollywood itself.  Somehow the Bradbury Building’s ornate and classically finished interior seems to have been built with the advanced knowledge that so many lives would one day flock to Los Angeles’ famed hills in search of the fulfillment of their dreams.  The “look but do not touch” quality to the sign which adorns Bradbury’s wrought iron elevators serves as a powerful reminder that the achievement of elevation in an industry of dreams feels distinctly possible and rests just one “yes” away from becoming reality.