Summary

Charlie Cox is known for genre-hopping roles, but in an exclusive sit-down with Collider for a Collider Signature profile, he admits he refuses to sing in musicals due to poor singing skills.

His upcoming romantic comedy, Merv, challenges him in new ways with Zooey Deschanel, including a “musical” number.

Cox values scripts as a whole, focusing on the story and chemistry over character challenges, like his upcoming guest starring role in Adults, set to premiere on FX later this month.

Charlie Cox is up for just about anything! While he’s best known for playing one of the MCU’s best superheroes in Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again, the English actor has been showing us his range for more than 20 years across a wide variety of projects. From a charming adventurer in Stardust to a gangster’s bodyguard in Boardwalk Empire, Cox has been quietly slipping into an eclectic mix of roles. But now he’s adding a new shade to his ever-evolving palette: romantic comedies with the upcoming holiday movie, Merv for Prime Video.
As a man unafraid of genre-hopping, Cox will be sporting some serious Tommy Bahama-type board shorts on camera while trading witty jabs with the one and only, Zooey Deschanel, under the Florida sun. But while he’s game for a lot, he tells Collider exclusively during a sit-down for a Collider Signature profile that there’s one area he refuses to fake his way through: Singing.
“I genuinely can’t,” he says flat-out with his face scrunched up when asked if musicals are something he’d ever explore after longtime friends, Jamie Dornan and Andrew Garfield, went all out in their respective films — Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar and Tick Tick… Boom! “Musicals are not in the cards for me.”
This becomes especially hilarious when you learn that Merv actually does include a musical moment for Cox. “I do have to sing in Merv, funnily enough. But I did say to them, ‘Before you cast me in this, I need to be clear about something, and this is not me being falsely modest — I am an awful singer. So you’re either going to have to rewrite that scene, or you’re going to have to lean into the fact that I cannot sing a note.’ So they’re like, ‘Great. We’ll lean into it,’” he laughs.
What Is ‘Merv’ About?

“I want to do anything that’s challenging.”

Image via MGM Amazon

That willingness to embrace the awkward or unexpected is part of what made Merv such a joy for Cox. The Amazon MGM Studios film, set for release toward the end of the year, centers on exes Russ and Anna, who share custody of their dog, Merv. When the pup spirals into holiday-season heartbreak following the couple’s breakup, Russ whisks the pup off from icy Minnesota to sunny Florida, only for Anna to show up and complicate things with unresolved feelings.
“Look, I love movies, I love TV, I love acting… going to North Carolina and putting on a pair of board shorts and having fun banter with Zooey Deschanel was really, really fun,” he smiles.
When asked if rom-coms might be a new lane for him, Cox is thoughtful but casual about his process. “I want to do anything that’s challenging,” he says. “Interestingly, when it comes to choosing jobs, I’m not very precious about the character, funnily. I’ve discovered this about myself. I’m not very precious on how good the character is. I don’t really tend to look at the job and go, ‘Is this different? Is it challenging?’ It really is the script as a whole. Do I read the script and go, ‘Oh, I want to watch that,’ or, ‘What a great story,’ or, ‘What great chemistry or great dynamics between the people?’ I really care about the piece as a whole, so I’m not afraid to tackle characters that are similar to characters I’ve done in the past.”
That perspective explains why Merv made sense for the 42-year-old, even if it didn’t look like a wild departure on paper. “Am I any good at it? I don’t know. We’ll see!” he says, laughing. “I certainly enjoyed it. I certainly learned a lot. I learned a huge amount.”
Charlie Cox Is Doing More Comedies

“It’s a completely different skill set.”

Image via FX

Merv isn’t the only place fans will see Cox flexing his comedic muscles. This month, the Daredevil actor also stars in the upcoming FX comedy series Adults, where he delivers one of his funniest performances yet — just wait and see! The experience was a new challenge as he worked alongside a younger cast and took a fresh approach to acting.
“I arguably learned more from them in those two weeks than I have on anything recently, because it’s a completely different skill set,” he tells Collider. The spontaneous nature of the show helped Cox experiment with a more fluid performance that let him get a bit looser. “I’ve just come from theater and dramas where you say the line that you were given, so it was really fun to have fluidity around that and experiment with a different type of acting experience.”

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While comedy is a more recent chapter in his career, it feels natural to Cox, especially since his passion for acting was sparked by the theatre comedy, Dealer’s Choice, during his last year of high school. “I attribute that experience to what it was that made me really have to be an actor. It was because I was playing a character who was very funny at times, and I walked out on stage and delivered these lines, and 200 people laughed at something you’ve done and said. It’s a very intoxicating feeling. It was that experience that I felt gave me no choice. I was like, ‘I have to try and do this.’ So, it was a comedy, ironically, that got me started, that made me want to do it.”
Adults premieres May 28 on FX and streams the next day on Hulu. Merv is set to premiere on Prime Video later this year.