'My Son Hunter' star: Humanizing a tortured soul without whitewashing Bidens in laptop docudrama

"My Son Hunter," the new film based on revelations from Hunter Biden's infamous laptop, leans into his alleged appetite for drugs, prostitutes and sketchy business deals — but that's not all we see on screen, says the actor bringing him to life.

British star Laurence Fox says dehumanizing the first son in a feature film would be boring and the opposite of art. His Hunter Biden is no saint, but Fox ensured the younger Biden's pain came through the drug haze.

"You can't judge him," says Fox, best known for his role on TV's "Lewis." "You have to play him as a human being. Anybody who is consumed by drug addiction and cannot stop filming themselves isn't in a very good place."

Fox's research for the role cinched his approach.

"I decided rather than read his ["Beautiful Things" memoir] I'd listen to it instead," the actor recalled. "It's brilliant. He should have played himself. You almost buy it after a while. You are the victim here."

"My Son Hunter" does reveal its partisan spots in places, from an early scene mocking media outlets for calling Black Lives Matter riots "mostly peaceful" to riffs on Biden's alleged hair-sniffing episodes.

Conservative viewers, however, will still see another side to Hunter Biden, a troubled soul seeking his father's admiration.

"We've got an entertainment industry trying to score political points … that's not the purpose of art or entertainment," Fox says.

Fox, who studied at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, agreed with "My Son Hunter" director Robert Davi about humanizing the title character.

"We want to make a film that an average Democrat would watch and go, 'Oh, wow,' rather than appealing to MAGA extremists," he says.

He adds: "'We're gonna sock it to the Dems, the libs.' It's not the way you're gonna get people to watch it." 

Distributed by the conservative Breitbart News news platform, the film tackles a subject both mainstream media outlets and Big Tech tried to avoid or cancel outright. The New York Post broke the Hunter Biden laptop story in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign, but many reputable news outlets derided the report as "fake news" or Russian disinformation without conducting their own investigations.

Big Tech platforms either censored the story (Twitter) or made sure fewer people were able to see it (Facebook).

Long after the election, both The Washington Post and The New York Times independently confirmed the authenticity of the laptop.

Those events sparked creative rabble rousers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney of "Gosnell" fame to make "My Son Hunter," leaning on a crowdfunding campaign to raise the budgetary resources.

Fox has his mind made up about the larger implications of what some have dubbed the "laptop from Hell." The actor, who railed against President Joe Biden's widely criticized "soul of the nation" Sept. 1 speech while talking to Just the News, sees the Biden family as corrupt to the core.

It's a matter up for impassioned debate. Fox's side sees mentions of "the big guy" getting a cut of Hunter Biden's deals as their smoking-gun tie to the White House, an interpretation supported by Biden ex-business partner Tony Bobulinski. Others suggest the laptop reveals a troubled soul crying out for help, not a familial influence-peddling operation.

"They're a gangster family of the highest order … selling out one's country to the Chinese," Fox says, citing their perceived corruption as a key motive for lending his talents to "My Son Hunter." It's a story that needs to be told, he adds, saying it's worthy of a director like Oliver Stone, no stranger to politics or controversy.

Fox isn't shy about his political and cultural beliefs, either. He's questioned elements of the woke mindset, including forced diversity, doubted the public health establishment's COVID-19 response, and suggested being attacked as a "white, privileged male" is racist talk.

And he's paid a staggering price for his blunt manner.

"I've been totally finished by the show business community … I'm not welcome at all," says Fox, whose once-bursting IMDB.com credit listing includes just "My Son Hunter" over the past three years.