Brian Cox is known for his candid opinions about his peers, and in a recent interview with The Times of London, he did not hold back. He criticized his “25th Hour” co-star Edward Norton as “a pain in the arse,” described Ian McKellen as “not to my taste,” and called Kevin Spacey “a stupid, stupid man.” While promoting his directorial project “Glenrothan,” Cox also took a jab at Quentin Tarantino, labeling him “meretricious.”
Discussing his approach to directing, Cox stated, “I’m more egalitarian than a lot of directors, the kind who call themselves visionaries. 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.”
Cox previously made headlines when his 2022 memoir, “Putting the Rabbit in the Hat,” revealed he had declined the role of the governor in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, expressing relief due to Johnny Depp being “so overblown, so overrated.” Cox later admitted he regretted the remark, saying, “You go for the easy joke. And I went for the easy joke. That was what happened, and I sort of regretted it.”
One of Cox’s most talked-about critiques has been about his “Succession” co-star Jeremy Strong. In various interviews, Cox has criticized Method acting, often citing Strong as an example of why he finds the style “fucking annoying.” In a conversation with Variety, Cox mentioned a connection between Strong’s Method acting and Daniel Day-Lewis, noting, “Jeremy was Day-Lewis’ assistant. So he’s learned all that stuff from Dan.”
Day-Lewis responded to Cox’s comments in an interview with U.K.’s Big Issue, stating, “I worked with Brian Cox once and got somehow drawn into this handbags-at-dawn conflict [over Method acting] inadvertently. Brian is a very fine actor who’s done extraordinary work. As a result, he’s been given a soapbox… which he shows no sign of climbing down from. Any time he wants to talk about it, I’m easy to find.”
When queried by The Times of London if he had contacted Day-Lewis, Cox replied, “No, I haven’t reached out because it’s got nothing to do with Dan Day-Lewis.”
“Dan Day-Lewis, he’s discreet. He never upsets it [the filming process],” Cox continued. “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!”
Cox also criticized the U.S. during his interview, stating, “In America they don’t like women. They won’t let a woman be president, not in the foreseeable future. Look what happened to Hillary Clinton. The patriarchy is so invasive and so insidious, it’s hard to throw it off. I think the patriarchy is a fucking mess, and it’s the patriarchy that got us into the position that we’re in at the moment, and we don’t learn the lessons. I say, give it over to the women.”
For the complete interview with Brian Cox, visit The Times of London’s website.
