‘My Son Hunter’ Movie Reflects Wider Issues in Life: Actor Laurence Fox

‘My Son Hunter’ Movie Reflects Wider Issues in Life: Actor Laurence Fox
British Actor Laurence Fox, who stars as Hunter Biden in the movie “My Son Hunter,” speaks with EpochTV's American Thought Leaders on Sept. 20, 2022. (The Epoch Times)
Masooma Haq
Jan Jekielek
11/15/2022
Updated:
11/15/2022

British actor Laurence Fox, who stars as Hunter Biden in the movie “My Son Hunter,” directed by Robert Davi, said the movie reflects the major issues plaguing the West.

“We’re struggling to define even the simplest of terms,” Fox said during a Sept. 20 interview with the host of EpochTV’s American Thought Leaders program. “I think that the loss of truth is something that should concern us all. And, without empiricism and truth, the world is chaos. And so I think that is art reflecting life.”

There is no basic concept of truth anymore, like what a woman is, and if men can have babies, the actor added. One group has decided their version of the truth is all there is and if others challenge them, they are targeted.

“The minute someone in a position of power decides what the truth is, the truth stops becoming the truth and it just becomes a narrative or a weapon with which to silence and destroy others,” Fox said.

“I used to think that we had a freedom of speech problem, but I think we now have a meaning of words problem. Words have been misappropriated, gathered up, and put back together to mean something totally different.”

A still from an American Thought Leaders episode. (American Thought Leaders/Screenshot via EpochTV)
A still from an American Thought Leaders episode. (American Thought Leaders/Screenshot via EpochTV)

Traditions Unite Us 

Contrary to the progressive assault on truth and traditions, Queen Elizabeth II was apolitical and united the British people, Fox said.

People “can see that what the monarchy has done and what ancient traditions and institutions do is they bring people together and they provide stability from which we can be progressive.”

The UK likes to “learn and grow with its traditions and with its heritage. Her Majesty was the physical manifestation of that on Earth to us,” he said.

Progressives want to dismantle institutions like the monarchy with the claim they are systemically racist. But Fox does not think that is true or even possible given the stability the monarchy has provided.

Members of the public mourned the passing of Queen Elizabeth II with flowers and candles outside the British Consulate General in Hong Kong on Sept. 19, 2022. (Sung Pi-lung/The Epoch Times)
Members of the public mourned the passing of Queen Elizabeth II with flowers and candles outside the British Consulate General in Hong Kong on Sept. 19, 2022. (Sung Pi-lung/The Epoch Times)

Targeted by the Left

Having been targeted by the “woke” left himself in the recent past, Fox does not want to do the same to the other side. He has been dubbed a bigot, blacklisted for his views, and has had no mainstream acting jobs since an incident two years ago when he made a comment during a talk show arguing that he did not believe that England is a systemically racist country.

“My politics have been massively misrepresented,” he said about speaking in favor of England and against Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle.

“I think [Markle had] been hounded out to the United Kingdom because the people of the United Kingdom didn’t like her narcissistic opportunism,” he said about why Markle was targeted by the British media.

Following that comment, the British actor’s union “called for me to be denounced, like the Salem witch trials, and within 24 hours, my acting career as I'd known it was over,” he said.

Fox said he has observed that free speech is under assault in England and in many other Western countries. So, instead of responding to the attacks against him with his own name-calling, Fox has chosen to proactively push back against the suppression of free speech.

He considers himself a proud British citizen and a lover of democracy, so feels he has a right to his opinion, even if it offends some people who have different views. He feels no need to apologize for his past comments.

“I think to apologize to people that have malevolent intent towards you is essentially to beg while being dragged to the scaffold. And I think if you’re going to be hung, and digitally removed and executed, then you might as well do it with your head held high.”

Not Right-Wing ‘Wokery’

Although many, including Fox, thought “My Son Hunter” would be more of an attack on Hunter Biden, it is not. The director and Fox tried to bring understanding and compassion to the film.
President Joe Biden (L) waves alongside his son Hunter Biden after attending mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Johns Island, S.C., on Aug. 13, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)
President Joe Biden (L) waves alongside his son Hunter Biden after attending mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Johns Island, S.C., on Aug. 13, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

“I think it would be a much more boring piece of work if one was judging this human being [Hunter], rather than just trying to find the humanity,” Fox said. “Robert Davi, who directed it, was very keen to make sure it wasn’t political ... or the sort of the right-wing equivalent of ‘wokery,’ which is the sort of vilification and hatred of this person.”

“We both thought, as the creative team, that it was really important that we made this a human story, even though it has global consequences once you consider it more broadly.”

Davi has tried to appeal to the moderate Democrat or independent, to make a movie that would objectively show people what happened with Hunter Biden’s business dealings while Joe Biden was the U.S. vice president, Fox said.

To prepare for the film, Fox read Hunter’s autobiography and listened to interviews so he could understand how Hunter perceives himself.

“Whenever I’ve watched [Hunter], he really genuinely seems to believe himself, which I think is probably a very strong trait of an addict anyway.”

Fox also tried to learn the details of Hunter’s business dealings and about his relationship with his father, much of which was detailed in the content of the infamous laptop.

“And that fascinated me because we all have those sorts of relationships with our fathers. They’re highly complex relationships.”

Preserve Basic Freedoms

Besides being an accomplished actor, Fox founded the Reclaim Party to push back against censorship and the erosion of basic freedoms in England.
A screenshot of the Reclaim Party website. (Reclaim Party/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
A screenshot of the Reclaim Party website. (Reclaim Party/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

The Reclaim Party started another organization, called the Bad Law Project, to challenge laws that are used “inappropriately,” Fox said.

“What we’re seeking to do with that is actually to remove politics from all of our foundational institutions via the legal route,” he explained.

For example, a man posted a meme of a pride flag asking what the flag resembled, he said.

“He was visited by the police and told he'd committed a crime. And they arranged an interview with him. And I made sure that we were there when the police came back and we told them what the actual law was.”

Because the upper levels of the police force in England are very “ideologically driven,” Fox’s group went to the police and explained that the man had not broken any laws, and the chief constable of the force, who was responsible for censoring and harassing the man, was fired, Fox said.

“If you say the wrong thing and someone is offended, they can report you to the police. And you can expect a visit from the police, which to me is very, very dangerous and reminiscent of other parts of history that have turned out less well.”

Immediately after the queen died, a British soccer player made a public comment that he wasn’t going to mourn her death because she didn’t do anything for him and his race. After that comment, he was targeted and people tried to cancel him. But Fox defended that man’s right to have his own opinion and share it publicly.

“The problem with free speech is that it includes the offensive,” he said.

Masooma Haq began reporting for The Epoch Times from Pakistan in 2008. She currently covers a variety of topics including U.S. government, culture, and entertainment.
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