It’s no secret that Brian Cox has been pretty unfiltered in recent years.
The actor has unloaded on several Hollywood stars in media interviews and in his autobiography — including his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong.
In a new interview The Times UK, Cox added a couple more — as well as defended his frankness.
Asked if all his griping about fellow Hollywood talents has cost him anything, personally or career-wise, Cox replied, “Well, I don’t know yet if it’s caused me problems. I mean, my wife keeps saying, ‘Brian, be careful. Brian, be careful.’ I think, ‘Fuck it, I don’t want to be careful any more! I’ll be 80 this year. Fuck it! I’m gonna say what I want to say.’”
You’re just reading this for the tea, so here it is:
Kevin Spacey: “A stupid, stupid man.”
Johnny Depp: Cox said he turned down a role in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise because he didn’t want to work with the actor, whom he called “so overblown, so overrated.”
Edward Norton: “A pain in the arse.”
Gary Oldman: Cox worked with the Slow Horses star on the Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour, for which Oldman won an Oscar for best actor. Cox called Oldman’s performance “cobblers” (Scottish slang for “nonsense”) and “a crowd-pleasing farrago” (meaning a “mishmash”).
Ian McKellen: Cox was relatively polite — by his standards — merely saying the rather beloved Lord of the Rings actor’s performances are “not to my taste.”
Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights: “Margot Robbie is far too beautiful for that role.”
Quentin Tarantino: “Meretricious” (defined as “apparently attractive but having in reality no value or integrity”). Cox added, “[When directing] I like to honor the actor’s performance. With a Quentin Tarantino film, what you see is all Quentin Tarantino.”
Donald Trump: “Trump doesn’t give a shit about the people. He’s only interested in the oil [in Iran]. There’s just sheer fucking greed motivating him, nothing else. The idea he’s liberating people is a nonsense.”
Jeremy Strong. Cox has called Strong’s method acting “fucking annoying.” And said: “I don’t hold a lot of the American shit, having to have a religious experience every time you play a part. It’s crap. The thing about Jeremy’s approach is it works in terms of what comes out the other end. My problem — and, it’s not a problem, I don’t have a problem with Jeremy because he’s delightful. … He’s an extraordinary dad. He’s a pretty unique individual. But, he does get obsessed with the work. And I worry about what it does to him, because if you can’t separate yourself — because you’re dealing with all of this material every day. You can’t live in it. Eventually, you get worn out.”
In his new interview, Cox noted, “I don’t want to go on about Jeremy, because I’ve got into a lot of problems and he’s begged me to stop talking about him. He’s a good actor, Jeremy.”
(For his part, Strong has said he took his Succession character “as seriously as I take my own life” and expressed some dismay about his co-star’s criticism. “I had a safe forum to share those things — and ultimately that experience was put in doubt.”)
Ironically, Cox added that he just filmed a new series of ads for McDonald’s Happy Meals (he’s done voiceover ads for the company previously, as well).
Cox is currently promoting his new film, Glenrothan, which he directed.
Author’s Note: The story originally cited the Times UK article which portrayed many of these quotes from Cox as if they were from a new interview. According to Cox’s representatives, several quotes were actually pulled from Cox’s 2022 autobiography, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, and other sources. This story has been updated to reflect this information.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.hollywoodreporter.com ’
