Brian Cox held nothing back in a new uncensored interview where he comfortably blasted several Hollywood stars and filmmakers, including Margot Robbie, Johnny Depp and Edward Norton.
“I mean, my wife [Nicole Ansari-Cox] keeps saying, ‘Brian, be careful. Brian, be careful.’ I think, ‘F–k it, I don’t want to be careful anymore! I’ll be 80 this year. F—k it! I’m gonna say what I want to say,’” the longtime actor said in an interview with The Times, reflecting on his famously unscripted commentary on actors like “Succession” co-star Jeremy Strong.
He then criticized actors like Norton and Depp — the latter he’s avoided working with altogether — admitting that he’s not sure if his remarks will impact his relationships in Hollywood.
“I don’t know yet if it’s caused me problems,” he said.
While discussing his roles over the years, Cox explained that he rejected the part as the governor (Weatherby Swann) in “Pirates of the Caribbean” films because he didn’t want to work with Depp, who stars as Captain Jack Sparrow in the franchise. The role ultimately was given to Jonathan Pryce.
He went on to call his “25th Hour” co-star Norton a “pain in the arse,” his “Iron Will” co-star Kevin Spacey “a stupid man” and said “Lord of the Rings” star Ian McKellan’s acting isn’t to his “taste.”
And that’s not all. After mocking Robbie’s Australian accent, per The Times, exclaiming, “‘Keith Cliff! It’s me, Cathy!’,” he added that the actress is “far too beautiful” to play Catherine Earnshaw in “Wuthering Heights” — which he hasn’t seen.
“I think there should be something more of the Gypsy about her but it’s wrong of me to judge. It may be a brilliant film,” Cox said of the Emerald Fennell romance.
While taking jabs at his fellow actors, he also gave an update on whether or not he’s reached out to Daniel Day-Lewis to discuss Method acting after he said co-star Strong’s use of the technique was “f—king annoying.”
“No, I haven’t reached out because it’s got nothing to do with Dan Day-Lewis,” Cox said. “Dan Day-Lewis, he’s discreet. He never upsets it [the filming process]. He’s never, sort of … 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. He’s a wonderful actor. It’s just all the bollocks that goes with it. You watch children — they don’t say, ‘What’s my motivation?’ They just do it!”
He also let directors have a piece of his mind while chatting about his directorial debut with “Glenrothan.”
“I’m more egalitarian than a lot of directors, the kind who call themselves visionaries,” he said. “I like to honor the actor’s performance. With a Quentin Tarantino film, what you see is all Quentin Tarantino. That’s not me. I don’t want to do that.”
